A fatal punch thrown late one night at a Wai'anae Coast beach park will mean as much as 20 years in prison for a Nanakuli man after he was found guilty of manslaughter yesterday.

A Circuit Court jury deliberated slightly more than one day before convicting Less Schnabel Jr., 23, in the death last year of North Carolina visitor Christopher Reuther.

The jury acquitted Schnabel of another charge of breaking into Reuther's rental car.

Reuther, 34, was punched in the head after he took Schnabel's photograph in the parking lot of Zablan Beach Park in Nanakuli near midnight April 22, 2007. He died at Hawaii Medical Center-East on April 24.

Punishment for a manslaughter conviction ranges from five years of probation to 20 years in prison.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Darrell Wong said he will seek the maximum sentence.

Wong said he spoke to Reuther's mother, Judy Wilson, on the telephone in North Carolina immediately after the verdict was announced.

Wilson "was overcome with emotion," Wong said. "Eight hours off the plane (in Hawai'i), and her son was taken from her."

Reuther came to the Islands to visit the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai'i. An honors graduate from the University of North Carolina who had been working as a magazine photojournalist, Reuther had been offered a partial scholarship to enroll in the environmental law program here.

His sister, Heather Litton, said yesterday she had "mixed emotions" about the outcome of the trial.

"Obviously, the verdict can't right the wrong. But I feel satisfied that the jury reached a fair conclusion," Litton said. "I'm just hoping that our family and Mr. Schnabel's family can begin to heal now."

Schnabel's defense attorney, Debra Loy, and members of Schnabel's family declined comment after leaving the courtroom.

Circuit Judge Michael Town set sentencing for Sept. 10 and, over Wong's objections, allowed Schnabel to remain free on $50,000 bond until then.

Wong asked Town to revoke Schnabel's bail, but Loy said Schnabel has never missed a court appointment, has been drug-free since his arrest, completed anger management counseling and was working full-time until the trial began last week.

He also has strong family support, Loy said, pointing out that numerous relatives regularly accompanied him to court during the trial.

Wong called Schnabel "dangerous" and noted that the defendant's reserved and respectful demeanor throughout the trial could be misleading.

"The public doesn't see a lot of what the prosecution and police see," Wong said.

EVIDENCE EXCLUDED

Outside court, Wong expressed unhappiness over Town's decision — made before the trial began — to exclude evidence of an assault committed by Schnabel when he was 17 years old.

The prosecution wanted to use that case to show that Schnabel had knowledge that a punch could cause serious or even fatal injuries.

"There were many obstacles the state had to go through to bring this case to trial," Wong said. "We were forced to go to trial without that significant piece of evidence."

That 2002 case occurred at Nanakuli Beach Park. Schnabel was convicted of assaulting a young man, Cameron Gernhard, who had gone to the park to attend the birthday party of a friend.

Gernhard was "suddenly punched in the left side of the face" by Schnabel, suffering a fractured eye socket and backward displacement of the left eye, according to court records.

WITNESS TESTIMONY

Prosecution witnesses in the manslaughter trial testified that Schnabel punched Reuther once in the side of the head and said the attack was unprovoked.

Reuther fell senseless to the ground and died two days later of a lacerated artery at the base of his brain.

Various witnesses said Schnabel was angered after Reuther unexpectedly took a photograph of him in the parking lot and twice told Reuther to "get the f--- out of here."

Defense witness Kristy Riverio testified, however, that Reuther was the aggressor in the encounter between the two men and that Schnabel acted in self-defense.

Virtually all the witnesses in the case testified that they were drug users or abusers at the time of the assault.

All described a nocturnal world of drugs and violence at the beach park.

Witnesses Nicole Ako and Harold Kaeo, who were at the park the night of the killing, both testified that they warned Reuther that the beach park was not a safe place for a tourist to be after dark.

Schnabel was a member of the Nanakuli High School football team that won the 2002 O'ahu Interscholastic Association White title.

Reuther was an organ donor, and at least five people received organs or tissue from him.