KEALAKEKUA — A 65-year-old Ocean View man has been sentenced to prison for shooting two men earlier this year in Ka’u.
Albert Walter Todd III was sentenced Wednesday by 3rd Circuit Court Judge Robert D. S. Kim to two concurrent five-year prison terms in connection with the March 5 incident that sent two men to the hospital, according to court records.
According to Hawaii Police and prosecutors, Todd shot a 32-year-old man in the leg as he purportedly walked that evening on a private driveway off Aloha Boulevard in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates. When a 31-year-old man contacted Todd on Todd’s property, the man, too, suffered a gunshot, but to his foot.
Todd, who’s also known as “Bird,” was arrested the following day, and subsequently charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangering.
Wednesday’s sentencing followed Todd pleading guilty back in September to two counts of second-degree assault as part of a plea deal meted with prosecutors.
The agreement dropped the reckless endangering charge and allowed Todd to plead to a second count of second-degree assault as a lesser-included offense of first-degree assault, according to court records.
The state also agreed to recommend Todd serve the prison sentences concurrently, or at the same time. According to the agreement, he faced anywhere from four years probation and one year in jail to a max five years in prison.
Kim, who was not bound by the agreement, sentenced Todd to the maximum five years behind bars.
But, Kim opted to delay officially entering the judgment until Wednesday, Dec. 12, after Todd requested a few weeks to get his affairs in order before turning himself in to serve the prison term. Todd is currently on supervised release.
Shortly after the sentencing hearing, Deputy Public Defender Ann Datta filed a motion to reduce Todd’s sentence. The filing indicated a request for oral hearing would be made at a later date.
This article completely avoids the motive for the shooting. Weren’t they crack heads stealing from him?
The law and good order, here in Hawaii , require that you do not attack any drug addict thieves that invade your property and steal your possessions, especially if they have their back to you and are not approaching you with a weapon in hand . Whereupon you can probably defend yourself from bodily injury . Otherwise , your only option is to document who they are with a video or still photos , call the police and give them all the information you have and let the cops track them down . If you step outside of those parameters you become a criminal too . As you can see here the courts will come down quite heavily on those that take the law into their own hands . Thus it is , here in Hawaii , many thieves act with complete impunity .
” your only option is to document who they are with a video or still photos””
Like everyone constantly carries things to photo or video around their property?
“call the police and give them all the information you have and let the cops track them down”
Right, they will get right on it, maybe……………..
yes, I am being sarcastic
Sure ! Virtually everyone has a modern smart phone these days and they offer both still camera and video options at the click of an app . If you don’t have one , get one . They’re great . As a neighborhood watch captain I use mine all the time .
So glad I am not “virtually everyone” I have an older LG flip phone that is only on when driving. Guess i am a throwback that does not live in an existence dependent on my smartphone?
Wife has one and just making a call on the damn thing is an exercise in frustration. i would carry my laptop if I needed all those apes or whatever they are. Do not need any of it. Can wait until I fire up this desktop at home.
Yes, poor guy got the max for shooting a thieving crack head in the leg while defending his property. I bet they go lighter on the thugs that almost beat the security guard to death. That’s how it works here. I can only hope Judge Kim’s home gets repeatedly broken into by meth addicts.
Your only option is to video it? What about an option of having enough police in Kau and Puna Districts since the County takes federal money which is supposed to be divided equally according to residents?? Why does Hilo and Kona have dozens of officers on duty at any time but Puna, which has 80K residents has 8, and who knows how many Kau has, 1 or 2???? Why are people in Puna told to forget it when they call 911, not enough officers, when they call on a stolen car or other problem??? I can’t even imagine what happens in Kau, though we read about it afterwards in the news…
But there always, ALWAYS seems to be five officers conducting seatbelt and cellphone stings any day of the week, anywhere, but no time or money is spent on violent and property crimes.
My friend called dispatch a few months back for a health emergency, and dispatch told him it’s gonna be awhile, HE should start CPR, which he tried to but blood just came out of her nose and mouth… Since when does dispatch tell callers to take care of the emergency themselves??? Very unprofessional and dangerous as well. It took hours for an ambulance, by then it was too late.