HONOLULU (AP) — A woman and her boyfriend have been convicted of attempted murder in the stabbing of the woman’s sister — a former soldier from Hawaii who was 2-months pregnant. ADVERTISING HONOLULU (AP) — A woman and her boyfriend
HONOLULU (AP) — A woman and her boyfriend have been convicted of attempted murder in the stabbing of the woman’s sister — a former soldier from Hawaii who was 2-months pregnant.
Jessica Hinebaugh and her boyfriend Michael Ayala were seen smiling in court Friday after they were found guilty of attempting to kill Hinebaugh’s sister, Casey Ann Jones.
Jones testified that Ayala stabbed her in the living room of her Mililani home in 2013 while her sister held her down. They then made her purchase plane tickets for them online, while her sister held a knife but didn’t point it at her, Jones said.
She said her sister came to Hawaii from Georgia to live with Jones and husband. Jones and her husband were both soldiers assigned to Schofield Barracks at the time.
Hinebaugh didn’t testify during the trial. Ayala testified that he also came from Georgia after meeting Hinebaugh online. He said he wasn’t present during the attack on Jones.
Hinebaugh and Ayala face mandatory life sentences, with the possibility of parole.
Darcia Forester, Hinebaugh’s defense attorney, said her client didn’t intend to kill Jones. If the jury believed Hinebaugh did intend to kill her sister, then it is because she was suffering from an extreme mental or emotional disturbance, Forester told jurors.
Ayala’s attorney, Randall Hironaka, told jurors that if they didn’t believe Ayala, then they should find him guilty of assault instead of attempted murder because if he and Hinebaugh wanted to kill Jones, she would have been dead.
One of the two stab wounds pierced Jones’ left kidney. She gave birth in May.
State sheriff deputies stopped Hinebaugh and Ayala at Honolulu International Airport as they were waiting to board a flight to Miami the day after the stabbing.
