Isle crime figure,
Stevens, 56, dies in
penitentiary

Charles K. 'Charlie' Stevens,
convicted in a 1979 double slaying,
dies of heart failure in a
mainland federal prison

Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

Former Hawaii organized crime figure Charles K. "Charlie" Stevens, 56, died of cardiac arrest yesterday at the federal penitentiary in Allenwood, Pa.

Prison staff gave Stevens emergency medical treatment after he collapsed at about 1:30 p.m., and he was taken to Williamsport Hospital in Williamsport, Pa., where he died at 6:09 p.m., the prison said. An autopsy is pending.

A notorious island crime figure, Stevens was convicted in 1979 of the double slaying of Conrad Maesaka and Patricia Stevens (no relation). Their dismembered bodies were found in trash bags tossed in the back of Waianae Valley.

Then-Circuit Court Judge Harold Shintaku caused a furor by setting aside the verdict and acquitting Stevens in 1981.

In a plea agreement in 1992, Stevens admitted shooting Patricia Stevens in the head and participating in dismembering and concealing the bodies.

He said he later bribed Shintaku to secure his acquittal.

Shintaku was arrested for drunken driving about a week after the ruling and claimed he was assaulted later that night. Police believed he had injured himself while trying to commit suicide.

Shintaku retired from the bench and committed suicide in Las Vegas in 1989, apparently because of financial problems. He had run up a $21,000 gambling debt.