Fatal punch leads to 10-year sentence
A state judge sentenced a 20-year-old man to 10 years in prison yesterday for throwing a punch that killed a 17-year-old runaway from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility in 2006.
As part of his plea agreement with the state, Kristopher Kalani also received a five-year prison sentence for an unrelated assault of a police officer.
Kalani told Circuit Judge Richard Perkins he knew he was wrong, and offered an apology to the family of victim Alexander Sabala. Neither Kalani's nor Sabala's family was in court yesterday.
A city ambulance picked up Sabala and another male in front of BK Superette in Nanakuli on July 23, 2006, apparent victims of a beating. Sabala went to the Queen's Medical Center in critical condition. He was taken off life support Aug. 9, 2006, and died two months later.
When police arrested Kalani in January 2007, he admitted punching Sabala in the head, causing him to fall backward and hit his head on a concrete curb. Police charged him with manslaughter.
Kalani pleaded guilty in March to first-degree assault in exchange for the 10-year sentence without a mandatory minimum amount of time he must serve before he can be eligible for parole.