Hawaiian man faces longer prison term over hate crime
HONOLULU—A Native Hawaiian man who was convicted of a hate crime against a white man must be resentenced, a US appeals court ruled Thursday, and the result could be several more years in prison.
Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in 2023 by a judge in Honolulu after a jury found him and another Native Hawaiian man guilty.
The jury found that Alo-Kaonohi and Levi Aki Jr. were motivated by Christopher Kunzelman’s race when they punched, kicked and used a shovel to beat him in 2014 for trying to move into their remote Maui village.
After back-and-forth appeals, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled on Thursday to affirm Alo-Kaonohi’s conviction.
Alo-Kaonohi could get up to three more years in prison, said Alexander Silvert, a retired federal defender in Honolulu.
Aki’s appeal, along with prosecutors’ cross-appeal of Aki’s sentence of about four years, were voluntarily dismissed, according to court records.
Kunzelman’s wife, Lori, told The Associated Press (AP) that she was glad prosecutors pushed for a lengthier sentence.
Racial dynamics
The Kunzelmans bought a dilapidated, oceanfront house in Maui for $175,000 because they wanted to move from Arizona. She said they saw the home as an affordable opportunity that her husband could fix up.
She said the beating of her husband “destroyed my marriage” and his brain injuries led them to divorce.
The case highlighted struggles between Native Hawaiians who are adamant about not having their culture erased and people who move to the islands without knowing or considering its history and nuanced racial dynamics.
