3 get 10-year terms for ‘vicious’ beating
Circuit Judge Richard Perkins called the beating of a man in Waianae that led to his death a "vicious and cruel" attack before sentencing each of three attackers to the maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Dillion K. Lepolo, 24, Lugavai L. Momoe, 33, and Julius F. Mitchell, 37, had been charged with murder for causing the death of Roger Haudenshild on Sept. 1, 2006.
Prosecutors agreed to allow each of them to plead guilty to first-degree assault earlier this year because the Honolulu Medical Examiner determined that Haudenshild, 47, died of a heart attack brought on in part by the beating but not from the beating itself.
Perkins denied Lepolo and Momoe's requests for probation.
"Probation for a crime as vicious and cruel and as thoughtless and indifferent to consequences as this one would not reflect the seriousness of the offense or promote respect for the law," he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Landon Murata called the beating a "vicious, violent, cowardly act."
Mitchell did not ask for probation. He was on federal probation for a drug conviction at the time of the beating. Perkins ordered him to serve a mandatory minimum of two years and two months before he is eligible for parole.
Perkins also ordered each of the defendants to pay $469 in restitution.
When given the opportunity to address the court, Lepolo, Momoe and Mitchell apologized to Haudenshild's mother, who showed up for yesterday's sentencing. Their lawyers said the three men went to Waianae Market to buy milk and cigarettes, not to hunt down and kill Haudenshild.
But Perkins said a statement that Lepolo's girlfriend gave police confirmed witness accounts that Lepolo told Haudenshild he was going to pick up some friends to kill him after a fight between the two men in front of the Waianae McDonald's restaurant over a traffic incident.
After the fight, Haudenshild continued riding his bicycle to Waianae Market. Witnesses told police the three defendants showed up, beat Haudenshild unconscious and continued kicking and stomping on his head. When they stopped, they threatened to kill witnesses if they said anything.
