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Man who killed
with hammer will
get chance at parole

In a split decision, the state
high court finds the unprovoked
attack was not proven to be
'unnecessarily torturous'

By Suzanne Tswei
Star-Bulletin

A man sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole because of the "heinous" way he beat a stranger to death in 1997 with a hammer in broad daylight will have a chance at parole.

The state Supreme Court ruling means that Monte L. Young must be resentenced to life in prison with parole for the bludgeoning death of Paul Ulrich at the University Avenue Burger King on May 10, 1997.

In 1998, Circuit Judge Victoria Marks handed down an "enhanced" sentence that eliminated possible parole. Marks' decision was the first Oahu use of a law providing for tougher sentences in crimes that are "especially heinous, atrocious or cruel."

The justices concluded 3-2 that there was not enough evidence to show the killing was "unnecessarily torturous." Because there was no "substantial evidence that Young's attack was 'unnecessarily torturous' to the victim," the ruling said "the sentencing court erred in sentencing Young to an enhanced sentence."

Chief Justice Ronald Moon and Associate Justice Mario Ramil dissented.

The Hawaii Paroling Authority will determine how much time Young must serve before being eligible for parole.

In her decision, Marks noted that the attack on the 44-year-old Ulrich was unprovoked. Young had approached a Burger King employee on the patio for money. After the employee refused, Young took a hammer from his truck, returned to find Ulrich in front of the fast-food restaurant and beat him to death with the hammer.

"This was not a painless death," Marks said at the time of sentencing. Young used both hands to hold the hammer at times, struck Ulrich repeatedly with both the claw end and blunt end of the hammer, and paused in between blows "to assess the damage" he had inflicted, Marks said.

The sound of the blows could be heard more than 20 feet away -- above the noise of a car engine, Marks said. In the middle of the attack, Young stopped to threaten a witness.

Marks rejected an insanity defense when she convicted Young in a nonjury trial.

Marks said Young abused drugs and alcohol and had a mental disorder at the time of the crime, but his condition did not prevent him from knowing right from wrong or acting within the law. It was Young's own decision to drink as many as a dozen beers and smoke three marijuana cigarettes a day and spend hundreds of dollars for illegal drugs, she said.

Young also appealed his murder conviction, but the Supreme Court upheld it.