Circuit Judge Glenn S. Hara sentenced Jeffrey B. Santos Jr., 24, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for killing Daysha Iwalani Aiona Aka, to a minimum 15 years in prison. Santos was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for use of a firearm in commission of a felony to run concurrently with the murder sentence.

The Hawai'i Parolling Authority will set Santos' minumum sentence before he is eligible for parole at a later date.

Donna Weber, the victim's mother, said when she heard Santos apologize in court to Aka's family "my mind went blank."

"Maybe not yet but in time I can forgive him," Weber told The Advertiser. "The hurt is still there but we are going to move on."

Weber's parents are caring for Aka's 3-year-old son, who was present when Santos shot his mother.

Aka ended a six-year relationship with Santos and moved out of their 'Ainaloa Estates home in August 2006. Aka, who was 21, was shot once in the head and her body was placed in her car and set on fire in a Pana'ewa rainforest.