A 60-year-old retired Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective was sentenced to two decades in prison for intentionally beating his wife of 28 years to death in their Ka‘u home in 2006.
Daniel DeJarnette Jr. was ordered Wednesday to serve up to 20 years in prison and pay $505 in fees in connection with the November 2006 death of his wife, Yu DeJarnette, by 3rd Circuit Court Chief Judge Ronald Ibarra in South Kona. The Hawaii Paroling Authority will determine DeJarnette’s actual sentence term during a future hearing.
DeJarnette pleaded guilty to manslaughter as part of a plea deal with prosecutors on March 15. He was slated to be sentenced May 23, however, sentencing was continued because of problems within the Public Defender’s office, according to court records.
In his plea deal for the reduced charge, DeJarnette admitted he hit his wife twice in the head with an automobile jack stand after she slapped him twice. DeJarnette, who moved to the Big Island after retiring from the LAPD in 2003, was indicted in May 2012 on second-degree murder by a Kona grand jury.
Police found 56-year-old Yu DeJarnette’s body on the side of an embankment near the couple’s Ocean View home on Nov. 12, 2006. An autopsy found she died of severe head injuries. Daniel DeJarnette, who told police that his wife had apparently fallen down the embankment, was arrested shortly thereafter on suspicion of murder, but was released from custody without being charged two days later because of insufficient evidence.