Wai'anae teen gets 20 years
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
A 17-year-old Wai'anae youth was sentenced in Circuit Court yesterday to up to 20 years in prison for his part in the July 14, 2001, beating death of William Van Winkle.
Victor Faagau, who was 15 at the time of the incident, was one of five youths charged with punching and stomping Van Winkle to death after he rode a bicycle up to the group of young men at the park. Faagau was the last of the assailants to be sentenced.
Van Winkle's partially clad body was found on a park recreation court the following morning by a passing jogger.
At the end of a jury-waived trial that ended in December, Circuit Judge Sandra Simms found Faagau guilty of manslaughter instead of second-degree murder, saying that contradictory evidence kept her from concluding beyond a reasonable doubt that Faagau was guilty of the more serious charge.
Conviction on the murder charge would have required Simms to sentence Faagau to a mandatory life term with the possibility of parole.
Because she found Faagau guilty of manslaughter instead of murder, Simms had four different sentencing options from which to choose yesterday. She could have sentenced Faagau to probation and up to a year in jail; to no more than eight years in prison as a youthful offender; to no more than 20 years, with the Hawai'i Paroling Authority to determine how much time he would have to serve before being eligible for parole; or to find that Faagau's level of dangerousness warranted an extended prison term of life with the possibility of parole.
Faagau's lawyer, Myles Breiner, urged Simms to sentence Faagau as a youthful offender. But city Deputy Prosecutor Franklin Pacarro Jr. sought an extended term. He asked Simms to continue the sentencing hearing so that two of the three mental health experts who examined Faagau after he was found guilty could finish their reports on Faagau's dangerousness in hopes the reports might bolster the prosecution's request for an extended term.
Pacarro said Simms denied the request to continue the matter. According to Pacarro, Simms said the record in front of her provided enough information to sentence Faagau to the 20-year term.
"She didn't allow us to put on the case for the extended sentencing," Pacarro said after the hearing. "The proper thing would have been to let the doctors opine about how dangerous Mr. Faagau is, or is not," Pacarro said.
"Obviously, she's not concerned for the community's safety or for that matter, about the rights of the defendant" since the two doctors who didn't file their reports may have found that Faagau was not dangerous, Pacarro said.
Simms declined to comment on the matter.
Even though Simms did not grant the eight-year term he sought for Faagau, Breiner said Pacarro's criticism was uncalled for.
"I thinks it's unprofessional and sets a bad precedent to the prosecution to attack a sitting judge when her ruling was supported both by the facts and the law," Breiner said.
When Simms found Faagau guilty of manslaughter instead of murder, it should have been clear to the prosecutor's office that the judge would not likely grant a request for an extended term of life with parole, which would have been the required sentence had Simms found Faagau guilty of murder, Breiner said.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
Correction: Victor Faagau was sentenced in Circuit Court for his part in the 2001 beating death of William Van Winkle in Wai'anae District Park. A previous version of this story contained incorrect information.
