Family upbraids court
and son’s killer

The victim's friend gets
eight years for a shooting
he calls accidental

A Waipio man who says he accidentally shot his friend to death was sentenced as a youthful offender to eight years in prison with credit for time served.

Jared Lee Williams, 22, pleaded guilty in September to reckless manslaughter and other charges stemming from the shooting death of Robert Rhoda Jr., 17, on Dec. 5, 2001.

Williams has served nearly three years in prison. It will be up to the Hawaii Paroling Authority to decide how much of the eight years he will have left to serve.

Yesterday, in emotional testimony, Rhoda's parents described the damage from Williams' actions. They also said they felt betrayed by the criminal justice system.

Williams was actually sentenced on Nov. 8, but Rhoda's family was not present because they had been told it would occur Nov. 10. The court scheduled yesterday's hearing to give the family an opportunity to address Williams and the court as to his sentencing.

Laurie Victorino, Rhoda's mother, said they had prepared emotionally and psychologically for the day Williams was to be sentenced, only to be denied their day in court on Nov. 8.

A merchant seaman for six years, she had begged ship captains to get her home in time for the sentencing -- "to be the voice for my son because he is not here to speak for himself."

She said she had to relive the nightmare of arriving at the hospital and seeing her son, his body already stiff, his arms outstretched and eyes wide open "as if to say, 'Mom, come here and let me hug you.'"

State law says the family of a homicide victim "shall be afforded the fair opportunity to be heard" at the sentencing of a defendant.

Circuit Judge Michael Town went ahead with the Nov. 8 sentencing, as Deputy Prosecutor Russell Uehara did not object, because the family had already submitted letters to the court and it was too late to summon them. Town noted that if his son had been killed, he would want to be present.

Victorino said she did not learn until the following day that Williams had been sentenced, and by then "the damage had been done."

She hopes her criticism of the process will spare other families from suffering what hers went through.

Victorino and her son's father, Robert Rhoda Sr., had hoped Williams would receive the maximum 20 years for manslaughter. But under an agreement reached between the state and defense, and approved by Town using his judicial discretion, Williams, 22, qualified to be sentenced as a youthful offender.

He had no prior criminal history, no history of violence, was amenable to rehabilitation and took responsibility, said defense attorney Myles Breiner, citing some of the factors to be considered in sentencing a defendant as a young adult.

Williams apologized for the first time yesterday to Rhoda's family and friends, calling the shooting a "tragic accident" and noting there was nothing he could say or do to bring Rhoda back. "He was my friend," he said.

By the time help arrived, it was more than two hours after the shooting, Victorino said. "If that was your friend, why did you let him suffer?"

"Robert would have given you the shirt off his back, and in return for his acts of compassion, you put a bullet in his heart," she said.