"I hope that you guys in time find it to forgive me for what I have done," Aki said told the family.

But the girl's father, Vincent Indreginal, told the board that Aki "got off light" when a Circuit Court jury rejected a murder charge and convicted him of manslaughter.

"Anything less than the maximum is unfair," he said.

He later said he can't forgive "until the truth comes out, and to me, the truth still hasn't come out."

Albert Tufono, chairman of the three-member board, told Aki the panel will make a decision in a couple of weeks. The board must decide when and if Aki will be eligible for parole.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle portrayed Aki as an ice addict who blames others for his crimes. Carlisle also urged the board to order Aki to serve the 20 years without parole.

"He is an absolutely, unequivocal, consummate, self-serving, self-possessed liar," Carlisle said.

Aki's lawyer, Todd Eddins, called his client an "innocent man" and pointed out that the jury did not convict Aki of murder. Eddins did not recommend a specific time, but asked that the board not impose an "excessive" term Aki must serve before he is eligible for parole.

The parole hearing is the latest development in the case that riveted the community when the 'Aiea Elementary School sixth-grader was reported missing Dec. 10, 2002. It triggered a massive search with family and friends and law enforcement officials combing the area around her Halawa neighborhood. Her body was found three days later off the 'Aiea Loop Trail.

Aki gave several statements to police implicating others, then admitted he was responsible for the girl's death, but later recanted that statement and testified at his trial that the girl's uncle and another man killed her.

The jury returned a conviction on the lesser offense and Aki was sentenced to the 20-year term.

Nine of Kahealani's relatives watched the hearing on the second floor of Halawa prison. Aki sat at a table in his prison blue uniform, shackled at his wrists and ankles. One of the relatives was Kahealani's older sister Tanya Guidry, mother of a 2-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter fathered by Aki.

"Basically, those are not his kids anymore," Guidry said after the hearing.

Guidry, 20, who got married about six months ago to a Navy man, said her son often goes downstairs in the middle of the night and talks to a picture of Kahealani that has a light shining on it.

"He always asked for his auntie," Guidry said, fighting back tears. "I don't know what to tell him. He was calling auntie 'Beautiful Butterfly.' "

She said she was too emotional to speak at the hearing, but when asked what she would tell him, she said: "I would have said he lost everything and that he should pay the full term in prison and not come out."

During the hearing, Carlisle said Aki committed a fraud on the family and the community when he was photographed by news cameras holding Kahealani's photo and standing next to relatives as they sought help in finding the girl. The photo was taken two days after the girl was killed.

Eddins told the board his client blames himself for the death because if he hadn't taken Kahealani to the park, she would still be alive.

"He knows he can never change what he did," Eddins said.