Maui cops hold man in suicide of woman

The investigation will focus on how the victim acquired a gun

Maui police have arrested a 38-year-old man for investigation of manslaughter after he allegedly gave his girlfriend a loaded gun that she used to kill herself.

Lilian S. Wilson, 29, apparently shot herself with a handgun at her Kenolio Road home in Kihei, Maui, at 6:26 a.m. Sunday, police said.

Her boyfriend, 38-year-old Jack Neary, was arrested at 2 p.m. Monday for an unrelated bench warrant on drug and firearm charges, investigators from the Maui Police Department said.

During questioning, Neary allegedly admitted to loading Wilson's firearm, and that he was with Wilson before, during and after the apparent suicide, police said.

He was then arrested on a charge of manslaughter. Neary posted bail of $20,000 for the manslaughter charge, and $25,000 for the bench warrant and has been released.

Hawaii law states a person can be convicted of manslaughter if "the person intentionally causes another person to commit suicide."

Loading a gun and giving it to a person to commit suicide is not, by definition, causing another person to kill himself or herself, said Maui County Deputy Prosecutor John Tam.

The accused would have had to somehow convince the victim that suicide had to be committed, or that suicide was the only option. It all depends on how the will of the victim was influenced, Tam said.

"Just handing a person a loaded weapon or a knife is not necessarily causing the person to commit suicide," Tam said. "You might be helping them by making it easier to commit suicide."

The other, more common definition of manslaughter is recklessly causing the death of another, which Tam said might apply to this case as well.

"It's all a question of what kind of facts the police have been able to gather," Tam said.

Police said the investigation is ongoing, as Wilson's autopsy is scheduled for today. Tam said the Prosecutor's Office had yet to receive its full report from Maui police.