By JOHN BURNETT Tribune-Herald staff writer ADVERTISING Tempers were short and words became heated Thursday afternoon in a packed Hilo courtroom. While attorneys were trying to sort out bail matters for manslaughter defendant Waylen Carenio, tensions between differing factions erupted
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Tempers were short and words became heated Thursday afternoon in a packed Hilo courtroom.
While attorneys were trying to sort out bail matters for manslaughter defendant Waylen Carenio, tensions between differing factions erupted to the boiling point in Hilo District Court.
In the gallery was a volatile mix of folks, including family and friends of manslaughter victim Roy Williams, family and friends of Carenio and his half-brother Turner Au — who are accused of roughing up a witness to the fatal fight — and friends and family of the witness, Clyde Lewis, who would have testified had not Carenio and Au waived their rights to a preliminary hearing.
Numerous people sported the insignia of Koa Puna, the motorcycle club Williams belonged to. Among those wearing Koa patches was Williams’ niece, Angelina Phillips.
An unidentified man turned toward Williams’ family and friends and shouted, “You guys keep your (expletive) comments to your (expletive) self! It was a (expletive) accident!”
Another voice replied: “It wasn’t a (expletive) accident when they (Carenio and Au) pulled him (Lewis) into the car and pounded him.”
Immediately afterward, a woman’s voice could be heard yelling outside the courtroom, but who the woman was or what she was saying couldn’t be understood from inside.
State sheriff’s deputies quickly moved to quell the disturbance. The courtroom was cleared and deputies mobilized quickly to mount a show of force in the parking lot and to ensure the conflict didn’t escalate to physical violence.
Carenio and Au face charges of kidnapping, third-degree assault, intimidating a witness and retaliating against a witness for allegedly restraining and beating Lewis inside a car outside Coqui’s Hideaway restaurant and sports bar late on the night of Feb. 1. Lewis, 20, of Hilo, allegedly witnessed the Dec. 3 fight between Carenio, a 21-year-old amateur mixed martial artist, and Williams, a 44-year-old Mountain View man who died the next day in a Honolulu hospital. Carenio’s manslaughter trial is set for April 2 before Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara.
After Carenio and Au waived the preliminary hearing, District Judge Barbara Takase ordered them to appear for arraignment and plea before Judge Hara Feb. 23.
Deputy Prosecutor Mike Kagami moved for Carenio and Au to be held in custody without bail. Takase granted the request when attorneys for both defendants didn’t object, a move likely intended to keep the prosecution from calling witnesses and getting testimony that could be used at trial on the record.
Email John Burnett at
jburnett@hawaiitribune-
herald.com.
