A 39-year-old Puna man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after a violent incident in 2022 that resulted in the death of one man and injury of a woman in Orchidland Estates. KITV reports that Ammon Stanley shot the victims with a bang stick, a kind of pipe gun, before setting the car containing the deceased ablaze.
On April 23, 2022, police discovered a burned Hyundai Elantra off Government Beach Road. Inside were human remains, later identified through the joint efforts of the community as Haku Waipa. A woman involved in the incident, who was shot in the head, managed to escape from the vehicle. KITV disclosed that two birdshot pellets were found in her scalp. The sentencing, which took place on November 12, handed down 20 years for manslaughter and five years for assault and arson. As noted by KHON2, the arson sentence will run consecutively to the manslaughter and assault terms.
In his appearance at Hilo Circuit Court, Stanley entered a "no contest" plea to the charges of Manslaughter, Assault in the Second Degree and Arson in the Third Degree. According to KHON2, the prosecutors had been pushing for the maximum sentence for the crimes committed by Stanley.
While the community grapples with the ramifications of such violence, and the judiciary dispenses its version of justice, calls for any additional information from the public persist, anyone with knowledge of the case can contact authorities anonymously through Crime Stoppers, as mentioned by KHON2.
