Man gets life sentence
for 2 Kauai shootings

He says he did nothing wrong in
killing 1 man and wounding another

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By Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.com

LIHUE >> Acknowledging he had broken the law but maintaining he had done nothing wrong, Howard Giddens was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole for a Hanamaulu shooting spree in which he killed one man and wounded another two years ago.

"From my point of view, what I did was right," Giddens told Circuit Judge Clifford Nakea.

"It's just the way I was. It's just the way I am," Giddens said. "But I believe for everything you do in life that's against the law, you gotta be responsible."

Nakea found Giddens guilty of six felonies, including murder and attempted murder, in a nonjury trial earlier this year.

Nakea said that although Giddens claimed insanity, he clearly had the mental capacity to control his actions.

On Sept. 18, 2000, Giddens, with his girlfriend and their son in his car, followed a pickup truck driven by a transient, Nelson Cuba, to Hanamaulu Park. Giddens got out of his car with a shotgun and fired several shots at Cuba, wounding him as he sped away. Cuba testified he had never met Giddens.

Giddens then returned to his home on Hanamaulu, sent his girlfriend and son to the police station and began walking his street carrying his shotgun. He shot a neighbor, Colan Fernandes, to death and fired at another neighbor hiding behind a car without hitting him.

Giddens then went to his home, called the police and surrendered.

All but one of the six doctors who testified at Giddens' trial said his longtime use of methamphetamines contributed to his paranoia, although he was not on drugs the day of the shooting.

"It happened because Howard could not control his mind and he believed his family was in danger," Jim Itamura, Giddens' defense attorney, told Nakea.