Judge Gerald Matsunaga ruled yesterday there was enough evidence for the Michael John Ebinger case to move forward, after hearing testimony from two boys who said Ebinger threatened to kill them. Ebinger, 56, of Kilauea, faces three charges of terroristic
Judge Gerald Matsunaga ruled yesterday there was enough evidence for the Michael John Ebinger case to move forward, after hearing testimony from two boys who said Ebinger threatened to kill them.
Ebinger, 56, of Kilauea, faces three charges of terroristic threatening, after pushing a 13-year-old in the chest with a gun, waving his machete around and telling the boy and his friend Monday at Kauapea Beach he would kill them, the boys testified.
During the hearing, Ebinger blurted out that the type of gun he threatened the boys with was a BB gun.
Ebinger, a Vietnam veteran, was convicted of murder in 1984 for shooting a 22-year-old at the same beach and sentenced in Judge Kei Hirano’s courtroom to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. The man Ebinger shot, Stuart Munson, didn’t die right away so Ebinger cut him up with a machete.
On appeal, Ebinger was awarded a manslaughter charge and his sentence was reduced.
Terroristic threatening is defined as endangering another “with the use of a dangerous instrument” without actually injuring or killing anybody, said Jennifer Winn, second deputy prosecuting attorney. It carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
The 13-year-old, Darion Stark, was visibly shaken in the courtroom, testifying that he was scared for his life and that Ebinger “meant it” when he said he would kill him and his friend, Payton Hough, 15.
Ebinger pushed Stark’s chest with the gun and pointed it at his friend’s throat, Stark said. Stark and Hough apologized to Ebinger for being at the beach and promised not to come back, they said.
Ebinger’s attorney argued that it was his client’s intent only to scare the boys into not returning to the beach via a privately owned access point, something Ebinger did with a BB gun he uses to shoot chickens. The reason for the machete was gardening, his attorney said.
Detective Glenn Morita, who is investigating the case, said Ebinger told him he mistook the two boys as thieves who had ripped off the area in the past.
However, Stark’s and Hough’s names didn’t match the description or names of the alleged thieves, Morita said.
A honeymooning Maui couple that witnessed the incident testified that Ebinger was yelling in the boys’ faces with the weapons. Douglas Walker, the groom, said he went over to Ebinger and the boys to “break it up” after seeing the gun.
Ebinger, who is being held on $20,000 bond, will appear in Circuit Court at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 17.
