For the second time in two years, a bill that would have strengthened laws on juveniles accused of murder has failed.

Karen's Law, named after Karen Ertell, an 'Ewa Beach businesswoman who was allegedly raped and murdered by her then-15-year-old neighbor on May 25, 2007, would have ensured that 15- to 17-year-olds charged with first-degree murder are tried as adults.

Supportive legislators failed last year to get the bill heard by the House Judiciary Committee. This session, the legislation moved through the House and Senate and advanced to the House-Senate conference committee.

It was essentially killed by the conference committee yesterday when a key negotiator, state Rep. Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa), did not attend the talks last night.

"We worked really hard and we lost because of one man (Oshiro). He didn't even read the bill," said state Rep. Kymberly Pine, R-43rd ('Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Pu'uloa), the bill's author. "He's going against the will of his colleagues and the will of the community and he didn't read the bill. To exert all that effort and to lose because of one man's personal agenda, that kind of power should not be allowed. It just makes me sick."

Oshiro said existing law already allows juveniles to be prosecuted as adults in certain circumstances.

"There is also a concern about the slippery slope," he said of the distinction in how the state treats juveniles and adults.

Under current law, juveniles accused of murder must go through a waiver hearing that can take more than a year before standing trial as an adult.

The additional hearing, coupled with the long delay before trial begins, does not consider the suffering of the victim's family and loved ones, Pine said.

In the Ertell case, teen Vernon Bartley admitted to planning the killing and said he acted alone and waited for Ertell in the carport of her home, according to a police affidavit.

On Oct. 7, a family court judge allowed Bartley to be tried as an adult — 13 months after a city prosecutor requested it.

Bartley's trial will begin this summer.

Ertell's body was found inside her home by her boyfriend and her daughter after co-workers reported she had not come to work and her Volvo sedan was found at Geiger Park.

Ertell, 51, owner of Koko Crater Coffee Roasters in Kaka'ako, had been scheduled to testify against Bartley in a burglary case.

Police described the murder as "very well-planned, very well-executed" and called it "heinous and outrageous."

Malanie McLellan, Ertell's daughter, who along with her husband and Ertell's boyfriend found Karen's body, said she cannot believe that legislators allowed the bill to fail again.

"I am extremely disappointed that Karen's Law was never given a fair chance by the Finance Committee to simply be heard out." McLellan said.

"This ultimately is why the bill died. This type of mentality, to favor criminals' rights and not those of the victim, is why the crime rate in Hawai'i will only rise and not fall."