By Tim Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
WAILUKU, Maui — A 45-year-old Maui man is facing life without parole after being found guilty of first-degree attempted murder yesterday in a shooting at a remote ranch in Kipahulu.
Edward Dean also was found guilty of a firearms charge in the four-week trial.
The first-degree attempted murder count, which carries the mandatory sentence of life without parole, covers both the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Seth Schimberg and the wounding of Schimberg’s 40-year-old girlfriend, Verdell Berg, also known as Nani Ho‘opai. Dean will be sentenced April 24 by 2nd Circuit Judge Artemio Baxa.
The shootings occurred the night of Nov. 29, 1999, after the defendant quarreled with the two victims over money. Dean and others had been allowed to live on the 40-acre ranch in exchange for clearing the land for farming. Dean and his 13-year-old son said they had gone to live on the property to seek refuge from Y2K turmoil.
Deputy public defender Susan Arnett argued that Dean was about to be hit with a stick when he fired a .32-caliber revolver at Schimberg and then accidentally shot Berg in the arm while trying to flee.
Deputy prosecutor Kevin Jenkins said the defendant instigated the trouble and that the physical evidence disproved Dean’s version of the events.
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