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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, July 17, 2003

Convict indicted in 2001 murder

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A 31-year-old Kalihi man who was sentenced to life in prison in February for a 2001 robbery was indicted by an O'ahu grand jury yesterday in the slaying of a Salt Lake man in late April or early May 2001.

Arthur Birano was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and two firearms violations in connection with the death of contractor Darryl Lee, 46.

Lee's decomposing body was found by his father, who had gone to Lee's home at 3045 Kahikolu Way to check on him. No weapon was found at the scene, and evidence showed signs of a struggle, police said. The house had been searched, and items were missing.

Birano was sentenced to an extended term of life in prison with the possibility of parole in February by Circuit Judge Sandra Simms for a May 2001 home-invasion style robbery of a Makiki man and his girlfriend at a Kewalo Street apartment.

City deputy prosecutor Lori Wada asked for an extended sentence, saying that Birano had amassed 76 arrests and 39 criminal convictions since 1990. Simms granted the request.

When Birano was arrested for a parole violation in May 2001, police said that they believed he had been on a crime spree after being paroled two months earlier.

Police say Birano pointed a gun at a 21-year-old man in Kalihi on May 2, 2001, after the man stared at him.

Six days after that, he is suspected of driving a stolen car and firing several shots into the air in a drive-by shooting at Kona and Pi'ikoi streets. A few days after that, Birano and two other men robbed and kidnapped the couple in Makiki.