A man originally charged with attempted murder after stabbing a pair of acquaintances in May in Hanalei pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of second-degree assault, according to a prosecutor and court records. Arial Star, 23, known by his
A man originally charged with attempted murder after stabbing a pair of acquaintances in May in Hanalei pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of second-degree assault, according to a prosecutor and court records.
Arial Star, 23, known by his nickname “Oki,” could face up to five years in prison when he is sentenced March 25.
“I think that it’s way too lenient,” said Patrick Coan, a Hanalei Surf Co. employee who sustained arm and chest injuries in the stabbing and first heard of the plea agreement during a phone interview with The Garden Island yesterday. “He came down there to start a fight. When everyone was telling him to leave, he started swinging. And because he got put down on the ground, and then let go, he came up with a knife.”
During a District Court hearing in May, witnesses testified that Star had arrived at Hanalei’s Ching Young hoping to obtain his iPod from an ex-girlfriend. When the argument escalated into a brawl, Star pulled out a three- to four-inch folding knife, eventually stabbing Coan near his left elbow and his back.
Coan said yesterday that he spent five days in the hospital bleeding from his lung, noting his arm is permanently damaged and he still does not have full use of his hand. The ex-girlfriend also suffered a five-inch laceration on her left forearm in the incident.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Lori Wada confirmed yesterday that the primary charge had been reduced in exchange for Star’s plea. She said surveillance video and other facts of the case made her believe Star never took a substantial step toward causing Coan’s death, the burden necessary to sustain an attempted murder charge.
“His lung was punctured, but short of nobody calling an ambulance, the only way he would have died would have been to bleed out,” Wada said. “That decision (to offer the plea agreement) was made regarding what actually happened, the melee that occurred.
“This administration is going to carefully scrutinize the facts so we will be charging cases we are confident we can win at trial,” she said, noting the attempted murder charge “would have been a more difficult situation with a jury because there was never really a likelihood that he would die.”
Defense attorney Warren Perry agreed with Wada, saying in a phone interview that Star had been “grossly overcharged.”
“I think this is a fair resolution to this case,” Perry said. “It’s unfortunate what happened, but my client was never an attempted murderer.”
Under terms of the plea agreement, the two terms, whether five years of prison or five years of probation, will run concurrently and not consecutively, Wada said.
She said she could not say which way the state was headed — jail or probation — until after a pre-sentence diagnosis and report.
“It’s funny that a guy like that … can do something like that” and receive such a short sentence, Coan said of Star. “I don’t want someone walking around my friends and family acting like that. It’s sad.”
• Michael Levine, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or via e-mail at mlevine@kauaipubco.com
