Woman guilty of manslaughter
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 30-year-old woman was found guilty yesterday of the lesser charge of manslaughter in the Aug. 21, 2002, shooting death of a man outside Waipahu High School.
A Circuit Court jury deliberated for about a day before finding Totie Tauala guilty of manslaughter in the killing of Hayward Julio. Tauala had been charged with second-degree murder and faced a life term in prison with the possibility of parole if convicted.
Tauala now faces a 20-year prison term when she is sentenced by Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto on June 22. Because she used a semiautomatic handgun to kill Julio, Tauala faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison.
Tauala never denied shooting Julio, but she argued that she was under extreme mental and emotional stress when she shot Julio as he sat in his car just outside Waipahu High School.
Tauala told police that on the day of the shooting, Julio held a knife to her neck while stealing jewelry, money and drugs from her at a friend's house in Waipahu. He later left the house in a car and Tauala followed when Julio motioned her to pull over near the high school.
Tauala testified in her own defense that Julio began making sexual advances toward her, which she said brought up memories of an alleged rape by her father in 1994.
"When he said, 'Come sit on daddy,' that's when there was a shift in her thinking, and it brought her back to the memories of her rape," said Deputy Public Defender Jerry Villanueva. "That's when things started going downhill for her as far as bringing back those memories, and she ended up shooting him."
Of Tauala's reference to rape in 1994, Villanueva said his client became pregnant and reported the incident to police, but no charges were brought because her father died in early 1995.
"She wanted to take responsibility, but it's not fair that she take responsibility for a straight-out murder where in this situation there was that factor and I think it was a strong reason for the shooting," Villanueva said.
Deputy Prosecutor Douglas Chin said: "I respect the jury's decision, but I was hoping that the jury would be able to see through that story and see this as just a cold-blooded killing. She basically walked up to this guy and pumped him full of bullets."
Chin said this case is one of the last murder cases to be tried under an old law in which the burden of proof is with the prosecution when an extreme mental and emotional defense is used. He said the new law places the burden on the defense.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
