A 23-year-old Hilo man arrested early Wednesday morning for what prosecutors called “highly intoxicated” driving while allegedly carrying a stolen handgun with illegal high-capacity magazines is back on the street.
Hilo District Judge Jeffrey Hawk on Friday granted supervised release — a form of cashless bail — to Kiane Asuncion-Wilson, over the objection of prosecutors.
According to county Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen, Asuncion-Wilson was taken into custody after a traffic stop in Hilo. Police pulled Wilson over after receiving reports of a reckless driver in a lifted Toyota Tacoma on the Daniel K. Inouye Highway overtaking people at a high rate of speed and swerving into oncoming traffic.
Waltjen said Asuncion-Wilson’s blood-alcohol content was 0.163, more than twice the legal threshold for intoxicated driving.
Officers executed a search warrant on Asuncion-Wilson’s vehicle and reportedly recovered a Smith &Wesson 9mm semi-automatic pistol with an illegal high-capacity magazine, a second high-capacity magazine, 25 rounds of 9mm ammunition and two spent 9mm casings.
According to police, a National Crime Information Center check on the firearm revealed that the Tacoma Police Department in Washington reported it as stolen in 2013.
Asuncion-Wilson was charged with DUI, driving without a license and three firearms-related offenses.
Bail was originally set at $73,200.
The most serious of the firearms offenses, illegally keeping a pistol or revolver, is a Class B felony which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment upon conviction.
Asuncion-Wilson also has an active case for excessive speeding, 81 mph or over, and driving without a license, stemming from a traffic stop on Oct. 23.
Hawk ordered Asuncion-Wilson to return to court for a status hearing on Dec. 19.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
