Posted on: Thursday, April 8, 2004

New trial ordered in 2001 Kaua'i stabbing

Advertiser Staff

The Hawai'i Supreme Court yesterday ordered a new trial for a homeless Kaua'i man who was convicted in July 2002 of second-degree murder for the stabbing death of another homeless man.

William McCrory, now 47, was found guilty of killing Brent Kerr, 44, in October 2001.

Police and prosecutors said the two men were drinking buddies and that the killing occurred after an argument over a bottle of vodka that Kerr had shoplifted and refused to share.

The stabbing took place in the morning outside the van Kerr lived in near Nawiliwili Harbor. The body was moved to Wailua where it was discovered on Kuhio Highway near the abandoned Coco Palms Hotel, authorities said.

The five Supreme Court justices decided unanimously that Kaua'i Circuit Judge Clifford Nakea erred by allowing a man who had shared a jail cell with McCrory before his trial to testify that McCrory never proclaimed his innocence in the stabbing case and that McCrory told him he hoped the charges against him would be reduced to manslaughter.

The Supreme Court vacated McCrory's conviction and ordered a new trial.