Roy Hartsock is a remorseless coward who three days before killing his wife, Jenny, knocked her unconscious in the kitchen of their Kalihi apartment, said the victim's sister Tracey Uejo.

    Victim's Family Confronts Killer In Court  

 

 

A family unleashed its pent-up anger at the man who killed Jenny Hartsock, her husband.

 

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  A week after he killed his wife, Hartsock contacted his wife's family, asking about his personal belongings that were left in the apartment, Uejo said.

Circuit Judge Richard Pollack sentenced Hartsock, 40, to life in prison with the possibility for parole yesterday for the Jan. 9 stabbing death of his 39-year-old wife.

Hartsock pleaded guilty in July to manslaughter, but, in a plea agreement with the state, accepted the prison sentence for second-degree murder. The maximum prison sentence for manslaughter is 20 years.

“;In looking at your record and the horrific circumstances of the crime you committed, I agree with the efforts of both the government and those affected by your crime, that you deserve to be and should be removed from society for an extended period of imprisonment well beyond the standard term of imprisonment for a person convicted of a similar offense,”; Pollack said.

Hartsock has 27 prior convictions, including abuse of a household member and protective-order violations.

Hartsock addressed Jenny's parents, children and relatives in court yesterday to apologize. “;I loved my wife dearly,”; he said. “;I'm sorry for the pain I put you through.”;

Uejo said Hartsock's apology is meaningless because if he were truly sorry, he would have pleaded guilty to murder. The victim's family opposed the plea agreement, but Uejo said they will accept it.

Relatives of both Roy and Jenny said they are still devastated by Jenny's death.

“;I'm not here for him. And I hope his life is miserable in jail,”; Deann Dano, Jenny's daughter, said in court yesterday.

Jenny's niece Jasmin Domingo told Hartsock, “;You're not even sorry for what you did.”;

Dazzerie Dano told Hartsock that he took her mother away from her when she needed her the most. “;Finding out you've been violent to her this whole time breaks my heart,”; she said.

Uejo said that three months before Hartsock killed her sister, he stabbed her in the leg with a knife so deep that it went all the way through to the other leg. She said police didn't arrest Hartsock because they believed his story that the stabbing was an accident.

Sometime after that stabbing, Uejo said, Hartsock damaged her sister's car by throwing his bicycle against it because Jenny went to work instead of taking him to Chinatown.

Jenny didn't tell her family about all of the abuse she endured and stayed with her husband because Hartsock threatened to harm her family if she left him, Uejo said.

A neighbor found Jenny in the walkway fronting the couple's Gulick Avenue apartment with a knife in her chest. He told police Hartsock was standing over her. Hartsock ran from the apartment to the Kalihi Fire Station and said five males with guns stabbed his wife.