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Convicted murderer Byran Uyesugi must spend 235 years in prison before he can seek parole for killing seven coworkers and attempting to shoot at a fleeing Xerox employee in November 1999. Parole authority
slams door
on UyesugiBy Debra Barayuga
Star-BulletinThe Hawaii Paroling Authority this week granted the state's request.
Reid Kawamae, whose father, Ron Kawamae, was one of the seven slain, had few words to say about the parole board's decision to keep Uyesugi behind bars for what amounts to all his natural life. "I'm pretty sure he'll be in forever."
Asking for 235 years -- one year for every year the victims could have lived had Uyesugi not taken them away -- was largely symbolic, city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle had said at Uyesugi's Nov. 13 hearing before the parole board. State Judge Marie Milks had already sentenced him to a consecutive mandatory life without parole term for the first-degree murder conviction.
The public defender's office is appealing Uyesugi's conviction.
A Xerox employee who was sitting just a few feet from two men who were shot and killed and a former Xerox employee who first discovered the bodies have sued Uyesugi and Xerox for negligence for failing to take appropriate action upon learning of alleged threats he made against his coworkers.
The Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health department cited Xerox earlier this month for failing to properly train its supervisors and managers to recognize and eliminate potential hazards of workplace violence.
It also cited Xerox for failing to initiate an effective program to identify and deal with workplace violence before the November 1999 shootings.
Xerox officials called the citations unfounded, saying they acted responsibly and appropriately in response to threats and violent incidents involving Uyesugi.
Xerox killings
Uyesugi verdict
