A 67-year-old Hilo woman was sentenced Thursday to 10 years of probation for her role in starving her developmentally disabled 9-year-old granddaughter to death in 2016.
In a deal with prosecutors, Henrietta Stone — who had originally been charged with second-degree murder for the death of Shaelynn Lehano-Stone — pleaded no contest to manslaughter on Feb. 6, 2024.
The child died June 28, 2016, mere hours after police and emergency medical services found her emaciated and unconscious in a Kinoole Street apartment almost directly across from the Hilo Central Fire Station.
The apartment was the home of Stone, the child’s maternal grandmother, and the girl’s biological parents, 57-year-old Kevin Lehano and 41-year-old Tiffany Stone.
Lehano-Stone had been removed from Hilo Union Elementary School in October 2015 by Henrietta Stone, the child’s legal guardian, to be home-schooled.
Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Hashizaki argued that, based on a pre-sentence investigation report, Henrietta Stone should be sentenced to 20 years in prison for the Class A felony conviction.
But Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto opted for probation — the same sentence Lehano and Tiffany Stone received separately in 2021.
Hashizaki sought the maximum prison term based on the PSI report — which isn’t a public document. He told the judge Henrietta Stone’s actions “warrant the imposition of the prison sentence.”
“Shocking is the word that comes to mind when the state reviewed … the submissions of the two (EMS) personnel,” Hashizaki said. “I think that, in and of itself, reflects the seriousness of the crime that Ms. Stone committed upon this, at the time, 9-year-old victim.”
Arguing for probation, Stanton Oshiro, Henrietta Stone’s court-appointed attorney, said “I beg to differ, Judge.”
Calling the girl’s death “the result of neglect,” Oshiro said Lehano-Stone had reactive attachment disorder, or RAD, which is described by WebMD as “a condition found in children who may have had grossly negligent care and don’t form healthy emotional attachments with their primary caregivers.”
“The investigation reveals that my client did try to feed the decedent, but because she suffered from RAD, she refused to eat or engaged in other oppositional behavior,” Oshiro said. “My client had tried to care for her. You can actually see … in the PSI that she took the child to the doctor … when she believed that the child was the victim of a sex assault.
“My client has no prior record of any kind, Judge, except for traffic offenses. She has no substance abuse issues, no significant write-ups in jail except for writing to her daughter and giving food to other inmates. She’s in ill health. Further incarceration will obviously exacerbate her other health issues.”
Oshiro concluded Henrietta Stone “had seven years to think about this while … in pretrial incarceration” and “the likelihood of recidivism, quite frankly, is nil.”
Given an opportunity to address the court, Henrietta Stone declined.
Nakamoto called the case “very tragic … very troubling to the court” and said Lehano-Stone’s death resulted from “horrific conditions that happened.”
“It’s clear that it was your inaction that contributed to the death of Shaelynn,” the judge said. ”Clearly, you could have sought help … and if you did, your grandchild could have been alive today.”
Nakamoto said Henrietta Stone, who was found fit to stand trial, has “mental issues.”
“As to the amount of your culpability … it’s clear from the PSI and the submissions in this case, that you are not capable of adequately taking care of your grandchild,” he told Henrietta Stone.
The judge added the defendant’s age, health, lack of a prior criminal record and length of pretrial incarceration were factors in sentencing.
Henrietta Stone appeared in court free on $100,000 bail posted last July by Tina Kasten, a maternal aunt of Shaelynn Lehano-Stone. Kasten, as representative of the deceased girl’s estate, filed a civil suit in 2018 seeking damages from the state, Lehano and both Stones. The litigation has been on hold pending completion of the criminal cases.
Having been incarcerated almost quadruple the two years maximum in a probation sentence, Henrietta Stone remains free, and Nakamoto ordered the bail returned to Kasten.
In a case marked with similarities to that of Peter Kema Jr. — arguably Hawaii’s most notorious child abuse and homicide case — Lehano-Stone had been removed from the custody of her parents and placed in foster care at least four times in her short life. Like “Peter Boy,” Lehano-Stone repeatedly was returned to abusive parents.
The girl’s two older siblings, who also were in the Child Welfare Services system, are now adults, as Lehano-Stone would be, had she lived.
“There aren’t words to describe my disappointment and frustration in the outcome of this case,” county Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen said in a statement.
“Shaelynn and our community deserved much better,” he added. “Her death was caused by the three people who she should have been able to trust the most.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
