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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Navy man gets 22 1/2-year term under plea agreement

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer

DeARMOND
A military panel last night sentenced a Navy man who admitted beating his wife to death with a skillet and fatally stabbing his mother-in-law to 22 1/2 years in prison, a sentence that prompted outrage from relatives and members of Hawai'i's Muslim community.

Petty Officer 2nd Class David DeArmond, 32, pleaded guilty last month to killing his wife, Zaleha DeArmond, 31, and her mother, Saniah Binte Abdul Ghani, 66, in the couple's Navy home on June 10, 2002.

The panel of six enlisted personnel and three officers deliberated for eight hours. DeArmond was also dishonorably discharged.

DeArmond will be credited for one year already served in prison.

Zaleha DeArmond's brother, Ahmad Kasti, a real estate broker in Singapore, called the sentence "a farce," and questioned whether he, a foreigner, would get such a sentence if he had committed murder on American soil.

"He got off lightly," said Kasti, who watched the proceedings at Pearl Harbor every day for nearly a week.

Abdul-Rashid Abdullah, information officer for the Muslim Association of Hawai'i, said in a written statement, "We are disappointed in the obvious lack of justice. What do we tell the people of Singapore about the justice of American courts when the murderer of their daughters was given such a light sentence? ... At age 55, (DeArmond) will walk away from prison, a free man."

Earlier yesterday, one of DeArmand's three defense lawyers urged the panel to sentence DeArmond to 12 years.

DeArmond was abused as a child by his stepmother and was a model soldier who "was pushed over the edge" by a cheating wife who wanted to leave him and take their three children to Singapore, said Marine Lt. Col. Peter Delorier, the defense counsel from Okinawa who was on loan for the proceedings. They also said he suffered from mental disorders, including a severe dependent personality disorder and "slow processing speed."

In their request for a life term, prosecutors described DeArmond in closing statements as a vengeful husband who was under a temporary restraining order, yet still killed the two women. Prosecutor Lt. Cmdr. James Lucci said DeArmond not only threatened his first wife by putting his hands around her throat, but viciously killed his second — a crime for which he showed no remorse.

Under a plea agreement, DeArmond's sentence had already been limited to not more than 30 years.

DeArmond pleaded guilty to charges of murder, voluntary manslaughter and abuse of a corpse in exchange for prosecutors' dropping charges of premeditated murder, which could have resulted in the death penalty.

At a pretrial hearing last month, DeArmond testified that his mother-in-law tried to intervene as he beat his wife, and swung a steak knife at him, but he took it away and stabbed her. According to a medical examiner, five of Ghani's 13 stab wounds were potentially fatal.

Lucci noted testimony from the medical examiner that showed Zaleha DeArmond's skull was "crushed like an eggshell," and said "our society does not solve marital differences with a frying pan."

He then held up the pan used in the case and said, "This was Zaleha's sentence."

Ahmad Kasti is seeking custody of the couple's three children, ages 2 to 5, who were upstairs asleep in the home at the time of the killings. David DeArmond's identical twin brother, Donald, is also seeking custody. The children are in foster care.

After the hearing, Donald DeArmond, his wife, Dawn, and his half sister Tracy read a statement asking Kasti's forgiveness on their brother's behalf.

"We want to thank this court and this jury, who heard all of the evidence and had the courage to do the right thing for the Navy, for the community and for our brother and his children," Donald DeArmond said.

Nanci Kreidman, executive director of the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse, attended the proceedings and said that while she was "distressed that he didn't get more, I think it's a miracle he didn't get less."

She criticized the Navy for providing the defense with three, more experienced lawyers, compared to the prosecution's two-person team.

Abdullah of the Muslim Association said: "We initially felt that the lack of justice was a result of bias against the victims. After observations in the courtroom, we realized that the lack of justice was a result of incompetence and lack of preparation on behalf of the prosecution. The prosecution was led by inexperienced junior officers while the defense was led by experienced senior officers."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.