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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, February 13, 2003

Two sentenced in Wai'anae beating death

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Two men who admitted in September to being involved in the beating death of a man whose partially clad body was found on a basketball court at the Wai'anae District Park were sentenced to prison on Tuesday.

Branden Adkins, who pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder for his role in the stomping death of William Van Winkle, 36, on July 14, 2001, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Sandra Simms to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecutor's office agreed not to seek life without parole for Adkins, who is 20 years old.

Calvin Dole, also 20, pleaded guilty in September to a charge of second-degree assault for his role in Van Winkle's death and was sentenced yesterday by Simms to four years in prison.

Another youth, Victor Faagau, 17, was found guilty in December of manslaughter after a jury-waived trial before Simms.

He is scheduled to be sentenced April 22 and faces a likely prison term of 20 years.

In rendering her verdict after Faagau's trial, Simms found the group of youths killed Van Winkle "for the fun of it" after he rode his bicycle onto the basketball court.