LIHUE — The man who pleaded no contest to one count of reckless endangering in a September stabbing outside a Hanalei restaurant and received probation in June for the incident was ordered to pay restitution to the victim in Fifth Circuit Court.
Michael Beck, 29, was ordered to pay $4,956.80 for loss of wages and close to $10,000 towards medical expenses to Miles Barsotti of Kilauea, who was severely injured during the incident.
“Those are the two numbers the court is approving,” said Chief Judge Randal Valenciano.
The loss of wage determination was figured using the plaintiff’s doctor’s note, while the medical restitution was a bit more difficult to determine, because the plaintiff’s insurance wouldn’t provide an itemized statement to the court, Valenciano said.
Valenciano explained that there was case law stating the court cannot determine restitution from block billing.
“When you do block billing, the court’s not in position to determine what’s feasible and what’s not feasible, and it put the court in a real difficult situation,” he said.
The plaintiff’s privacy also came into consideration when determining medical restitution.
The altercation outside Tahiti Nui resulted in serious injuries to Barsotti.
Beck also received injuries during the fight and during sentencing told the court he and his wife were afraid for their lives. He acted out of self-defense, he said.
At the sentencing, Valenciano said the court didn’t have a clear understanding of what happened that night and there were two sides of the story. The police report, he said, didn’t determine what happened.
“When you look at the Barsotti explanation, there are a lot of, as the police refer, a lot of inconsistencies, a lot of gaps. I don’t know what happened because if Mr. Beck was trying to fight with this group of males, then his choice of having his wife as one of his group, unless she had some special skill that I’m not aware of, wouldn’t be a rational choice, and so I have a hard time accepting what I call the Barsotti version,” Valenciano said in June.
Because of the fight, Beck and his wife had to flee the island for their safety. He participated in Thursday’s hearing via telephone.
Beck was indicted on Nov. 9 by the Fifth Circuit Grand Jury on second-degree assault charges. The indictment alleged he intentionally or knowingly caused serious bodily injury to Barsotti with a dangerous instrument.
In November, Beck pleaded not guilty and maintained he was the one attacked in the parking lot.
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Bethany Freudenthal, courts, crime and county reporter, can be reached at 652-7891 or bfreudenthal@thegardenisland.com.
