High court ruling
may bring shorter
prison term for
child-killing mom
Jennifer Edwards' jurors were
By Susan Kreifels
not given the chance to determine
her daughter's age
Star-BulletinThe trial of Jennifer Edwards may set a legal precedent in Hawaii and lead to a shorter prison term for the mother convicted of punching and stomping her daughter to death.
Deputy public defender Ed Harada is asking a Circuit Court judge to correct Edwards' "illegal sentence," basing his motion on a state Supreme Court ruling that came about two weeks after she was sentenced on Aug. 10.
The justices in a different case ruled on Aug. 27 that jurors must determine that a victim was under 8 years of age, which then under state law would automatically lead to minimum sentence guidelines. Although witnesses said Edwards' daughter, Cedra, was only 1 year old, jurors were not given the opportunity to determine her age themselves.
Edwards, 20, was convicted of reckless manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Circuit Judge Marie Milks gave her a mandatory minimum term of six years and eight months because of the victim's age.
The motion was raised before Milks yesterday. Harada said outside the courtroom that the Supreme Court ruling should retroactively apply to Edwards' case, which is pending since it has been appealed.
Since jurors did not get to determine age, Harada said Milks should vacate the mandatory minimum sentence, which would give the parole board leeway to determine how long Edwards should serve.
If Milks rules that the high court's decision should apply to Edwards, "I will argue for her immediate release" before the paroling authority, the attorney said.
On the other hand, the parole board could set a higher minimum sentence than Milks did, according to a spokesman for the prosecutor's office.
Milks will hear arguments on the motion Dec. 28. She could decide at the state's request not to apply the Supreme Court ruling to Edwards' case. Or she could recall the jury or impound a new jury to determine Cedra's age, which has never been done in isle courts.
Deputy Prosecutor Lucianne Khalaf said a precedent was set by a California judge, who called a new jury in a similar case. But "it's a whole new ballgame" for Hawaii," she said. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling must be retroactively applied to pending cases, but state courts don't have that requirement, Khalaf said.
Khalaf said if Milks decides to retroactively apply the new ruling, it would set a precedent for all pending cases, including the case of Kimberly Pada. Pada was convicted of beating and shaking her son Reubyne Buentipo Jr. in 1997 and leaving him comatose. Reubyne is now 5 years old.
Pada was ordered to serve at least 20 years by the paroling authority, the maximum sentence it could render. But the authority also asked Pada to return in 10 years for an interview to assess her progress.
