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A 54-year-old man accused of beating another man to death with a baseball bat at Keehi Lagoon Park is scheduled for trial in January. Convicted killer
faces trial in Keehi
Lagoon beating deathStar-Bulletin staff
Sapatumoeese I. Maluia, 54, pleaded not guilty yesterday to second-degree murder in the death of Feao Tupuola Jr., 48.
Police said both men were homeless and were drinking at the park on Oct. 12 when Tupuola was beaten.
He died later at Queen's Medical Center.
According to state records, Maluia was arrested in March 1973 in the shotgun killings of his girlfriend and her grandmother. He was convicted the following year and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Maluia was released on parole in October 1988 but was returned to prison after he violated the terms of his parole.
Maluia is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail pending his trial.
An Oahu grand jury indicted Maluia, a former Waikiki entertainer, on an enhanced second-degree murder charge that makes him subject to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.