Posted on: Sunday, December 29, 2002

High court sticks to order for trial in Big Island killings

Associated Press

HILO, Hawai'i — The state Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its recent ruling that overturned the 1999 manslaughter convictions of a Big Island man.

Last month, the state appealed the high court's decision to overturn the convictions of Tetsuya Yamada, who was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter in the shotgun slayings of his ex-wife, Carla Russell, 50, and her daughter, Rachel De Cambra, 23.

The court ordered a new trial for Yamada, saying jurors received improper instructions before deliberations.

Prosecutors' requests to reconsider those decisions were denied last week.

Russell and De Cambra lived next door to Yamada and were found dead in their Waiakea Uka home on Sept. 29, 1996.

Yamada, whose mental fitness became an issue at trial, originally was charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and burglary.

Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura instructed jurors that if they found Yamada had committed the crimes but was insane, they had to find him not guilty by reason of insanity.

However, he said if jurors found Yamada was sane but acted in the heat of passion, they must convict him of manslaughter instead of first-degree murder.

The jury found that the prosecution proved elements of first-degree murder, but failed to prove that Yamada wasn't acting in the heat of passion.

He was convicted on two counts of manslaughter and sentenced to two consecutive 20-year prison terms.

The Supreme Court ruled the jury shouldn't have been instructed to sentence Yamada to two manslaughter counts when there was only one first-degree murder count.