HILO — A 32-year-old man who damaged Hilo’s statue of King Kamehameha the Great and hid the top portion of its bronze spear during last year’s Labor Day weekend was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison.
Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara handed down the sentence to William Roy Carroll III, who in May was convicted by a jury of second- and third-degree theft and second-degree criminal property damage.
The 6-foot portion of spear was reported missing from the iconic statue by a tour guide on Sept. 6, 2015. The spear and a section of heavy chain stolen from nearby Bayfront Motors that apparently was used to break the spear was found two days later by police in an overgrown, grassy area along a flood canal near the statue.
Carroll, who has been in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center for almost a year, will receive credit for time served.
Video presented at trial showed Carroll dragging the chain through Bayside Chevron toward the statue.
Robert “Bobby” Yamada II, local chapter secretary of the Kamehameha Schools Alumni Association, which brought the statue to the Big Island from Kauai and is responsible for its upkeep, told the judge that Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, whose will established Kamehameha Schools, “was the last descendant of King Kamehameha the Great.”
“All alumni revere Ke Alii Bernice Pauahi Bishop, and by association, anything and everything Kamehameha,” Yamada said.
“Last year during the Labor Day weekend, I received a call from Tom Chun, president of the alumni association, to report that the statue was vandalized. I felt rage and confusion,” he said. “Later, other alumni chimed in, feeling the same way, on Facebook, on several alumni sites and other social media, and asked, ‘Why?’ We don’t know and may never know.”
Deputy Public Defender Patrick Munoz argued for probation for his client.
He said Carroll “has problems, but he is a family man.”
“The biggest sadness to Mr. Carroll through this whole time has been being separated from his daughter,” Munoz said.
Munoz noted a plea offer Carroll rejected prior to trial that would have sentenced him to time already served and given him a chance to have the felony conviction erased from his record.
“Mr. Carroll simply wanted his right to due process and for the allegations to be proved,” Munoz said. “We do not believe that just because Mr. Carroll went to trial a prison sentence is warranted. … Mr. Carroll went from the opportunity for this to not appear on his record at all to being a convicted felon.”
Munoz said with mental health and substance abuse treatment, Carroll “is redeemable.”
“Mr. Carroll has lot almost one year of his life in custody, one year of his life with his daughter, one year of his life moving forward,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Haaheo Kahoohalahala argued for a prison term and said Carroll “lost one year of his life due to his own actions, no one else’s.”
She referred to “a history of prior delinquency and criminal activity” and said Carroll, who’s awaiting trial in Honolulu for a felony drug charge, DUI and driving without a license, violated a court order by leaving Oahu and vandalizing the statue.
“Those offenses were committed less than two days after he arrived on the Big Island,” Kahoohalahala said. “… Whatever the state offered the defendant prior to trial was rejected by the defendant, and so it should no longer be considered. The state gave the defendant the opportunity to take responsibility for what he did, but he did not, and he refuses to take any responsibility for his own actions.”
Carroll, who didn’t testify during his trial, told the judge if “given a chance at probation, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to abide by the law and my probation.”
“Separation from my daughter for a year is the longest time I’ve ever been separated,” Carroll said, and added he came to the Big Island for Labor Day with the Hawaiian Dragons Motorcycle Club.
“It was supposed to be for one week and had a flight to go back, but I ended up in H-triple-C,” he said.
The judge told Carroll he had vandalized a symbol of “significant value, and I’m not talking about money value, but cultural value.”
“Damage to those kinds of property, in my mind, should not be tolerated,” Hara said.
The judge said although Carroll had no prior felony convictions, his history of minor offenses “indicates to me that you do not have any respect for the law and the rights of others.”
Yamada said afterwards he’s happy with the outcome.
“I think justice has been served,” he said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.