Hilo man sentenced for manslaughter, intimidating a witness

HILO — A former amateur mixed martial artist and competitive surfer was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for killing a man in a bar fight and intimidating a witness to the fight.

Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara sentenced 22-year-old Waylen Keone Carenio to eight years in prison for manslaughter and another four years for intimidating witness Clyde Lewis, who saw the Dec. 3 fight outside Karma Hawaii Sports Bar in Hilo that resulted in the death the following day of 44-year-old Roy Williams Jr. The judge ordered that the sentences run consecutively.

Carenio, who pleaded guilty to the charges, could have received up to 25 years imprisonment if sentenced consecutively for both offenses, or Hara could have granted him probation as a first-time felony offender. The judge instead opted to sentence Carenio as a “young adult defendant” — guidelines that allowed him to order the eight-year prison term for manslaughter, which carries a possible 20-year sentence.

Carenio’s attorney, Vaughan Winbourne Jr., said Williams’ death was the result of “a mutual affray” and said that Clyde Lewis would have testified at trial — if the case had gone to trial — that Williams was the aggressor.

“This was not a mutual affray; this was not a fight,” countered Deputy Prosecutor Mike Kagami. “Any attempt to call it that is just wrong.” He referred to witness Delsin Tolentino, a cab driver he described as “the only one that wasn’t at Karma’s, wasn’t drinking (and) wasn’t involved with either side.”

“His statement to the police is that this defendant was the aggressor the whole time,” Kagami said. “He is the one that started the physical fight; he’s the one that ended the physical fight.”