Justice: Hawaiian Style

Forums: Hawaii, News, Justice, Senseless Killing, Prison Sentences
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Man kills his son by shooting him several times at close range. He then disposes of the body by throwing it over a high cliff. He then cops a plea bargain, pleads guilty and is sentenced to two fuckin' years prison, including credit for time served ??? I was talking to a local (native) Hawaiian woman this morning who works as cashier at the local grocery store. Her husband, she said, is a Hawaiian cop who connstantly shakes his head at the way justice is dispensed in this state.

Whaddaya think? Any of this make the least bit of sense?

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2009/10/28/local_news/local01.txt

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Type: Discussion • Score: 7 • Views: 3,263 • Replies: 19

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@Merry Andrew,

wow Andy. I think you'll be responsible if more people who are ill mannered
towards their loved ones, move to Hawaii now.

1 Reply

@CalamityJane,

Damn! I hadn't thought of that, c.j. Just trying to give some adverse publicity to this fairly obvious miscarriage of justice.

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@Merry Andrew,

Dang. I thought this was going to be a thread on brilliance of pineapple and ham on pizza! [sigh]

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/680/552701-hawaiian_pizza_super.jpg

That would truly be justice served!

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Does this sort of thing happen regularly, or is this the one case you know about?

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@tsarstepan,

It's true.

That and it brings us closer to Canada's bacon.
K
O

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

Does this sort of thing happen regularly, or is this the one case you know about?

This is the one case in the news right at this time, edgar. But the judicial system in Hawaii has come in for its share of criticism in the past, as has the whole investigative arm of the various police agencies (Hawaii is one of only two states which has no state police; all policing is at a county, island-by-island level). Interestingly, the judge in this case, Glenn Hara, has been criticised in the past for handing down unusually harsh sentences for drug-related offenses. Appare ntly Judge Hara considers possession of methamphetamines or marijuana more reprehensible than homicide.

If you read the whole story contained in my link, edgar, you saw that the excuse given for accepting a plea bargain was that without a confession it might have been impossible to secure a conviction. To me that seems like one hell of an admission for any prosecutor's office to make. Are they saying that they are not competent to gather enough material evidence to secure a conviction? Or are they saying that the courtroom technique of their prosecutorial staff is so poor that they could not sway a jury? In either case it's a shameful confession.

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Does it seem like there was an ongoing issue of parental abuse?

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2009/10/28/local_news/local01.txt

Quote:

Phillip Kissinger, a friend of Chris Randrup, poked at the defendant's statements.

"When he got away from his son, he could have went for help. He was able to avoid his son's grasp in attacking him, but he was unable to avoid his anger for revenge or justification."

"If he was able to get away, he was able to avoid the situation completely. Randy was already away from the problem before the shooting. He stepped back in the conflict, armed and fully ready to follow through with the worst that he did."

Randy Randrup's attorney, Francis Alcain, drew a starkly different portrait.

"The letters of support submitted on behalf of Mr. Randrup speak of a man who was loving, caring and peaceful, so that he goes out of his way to avoid trouble and conflict" Alcain said. "No matter the outcome of today's case, it is a tragic case.

"On the surface, the relationship that Mr. Randrup had with his son, it appeared to be relatively calm. But little tell-tale signs were present. Mr. Randrup would go to work with an injury one day that he didn't have before, or a cut, or a bruise, or pain and fear from a vicious kick over a dog. Little things. But the father-son relationship was marred by a pattern of abuse -- violent, explosive abuse that continued to escalate in severity and concern."

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I used to be in charge of a program bringing AA speakers to the women's jail in Hilo. There was one women there, with eight children who was convicited of selling drugs who got 25 years with no parole for selling drugs. Her children will be grown and gone before she gets out of prison. She was sentenced by Glenn Hara (who is also )one of our liberal democrats.

Then he turns around gives that turkey two years? I'm shaking myn head too.

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@Merry Andrew,

I was not intending to call into question the flawed nature of that trial. In the back of my mind was the fact that we have had some screwed up cases of "justice" around here. I wondered if perhaps some or many states are in the same situation as Hawaii. For instance, a man was recently executed here, despite the fact new studies showed him more likely than not innocent.

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@roger,

That there's a tad more to this story than meets the eye goes without saying, roger. The point remains that a homicide was committed (by all accounts, not a justifyable case of self-defence but, rather, a case of vengeful behavior) and the punishment meted out was unbelievably lenient.

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The judge accepted the plea bargain when it was revealed that there was not enough evidence for a conviction. He could have been let off a free man. Two years may seem insufficient but it's better than no time at all.

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It appears that the son was physically abusive and attacked his father on numerous occasions causing injury. So there were strong resentments on the part of both.

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@Sglass,

You're from Texas and aren't familiar with the "He-Needed-Killin" defense?

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@Merry Andrew,

WHAT! you mean Hawaii 5-0 is fiction? jesus ******* christ when you can't trust t.v. who can you trust? I'm glad I live in New Mexico, we don't pretend to have a justice system.

1 Reply

@roger,

roger wrote:

You're from Texas and aren't familiar with the "He-Needed-Killin" defense?

Yeah, there's that, of course, and it's possible that this was, in part, the judge's thinking. But it's still bizarre to see a headline like that. And, as Nick Fun has noted, if that was the defense he should'a got off scott free.

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@dyslexia,

'Hawaii 5-0' is the biggest joke ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting TV watching public. Hawaiians watch it doubled over with laughter, slapping their thighs, giving each other high-fives etc. etc. The humor is compounded by the fact that from time to time the writers of the show will try to throw in a Hawaiian word e.g. 'ohana' or 'mahalo' and try to make the actors say things that are supposed to sound vaguely like Hawaiian pidgin. It invariably comes off so lame it's hilarious.

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@roger,

No Roger I am not at all. Please explain.

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@Sglass,

It's a tough legal theory to explain. It was best summed up in a comedy recording between the accused and the judge. The entire dialog was almost entirely "He needed killin'" and "You got that right".

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How about some justice from back in the good ole days when the navy took care of things.
For example: The Massie Case of the 1920s is a crime story worth reading. Not all was well in paradise even back then.

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Justice: Hawaiian Style

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