It appears a 37-year-old Hilo man will go on trial this year for the shotgun slayings of his longtime girlfriend and her mother more than three years ago. ADVERTISING It appears a 37-year-old Hilo man will go on trial this
It appears a 37-year-old Hilo man will go on trial this year for the shotgun slayings of his longtime girlfriend and her mother more than three years ago.
Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura on Friday ordered Sean Ivan Masa Matsumoto to appear for trial at 9 a.m. Nov. 7.
“This is a firm set; we’re going this time,” Nakamura told Matsumoto and his court-appointed attorney, Stanton Oshiro.
Matsumoto faces charges of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, three other firearms offenses, plus reckless endangering, for the fatal shootings of 45-year-old Rhonda Lynn Alohalani Ahu and her 74-year-old mother, Elaine Ahu, on Feb. 11, 2013, at their Leilani Street home in Hilo’s Waiakea Houselots neighborhood.
The first-degree murder charge, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole upon conviction, is because there is more than one victim.
