HONOLULU (KHON2) — The retrial verdict has been announced for two defendants previously convicted of assaulting a hotel security guard in 2018, resulting in severe injuries that left the victim paralyzed.
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John Kanui, a security guard at a Kona hotel, was responding to a noise complaint in the parking lot when he was attacked by three individuals, leading to injuries that rendered him a quadriplegic.
The initial trial concluded a year later with Wesley Samoa and Natisha Tautalatasi receiving life sentences with the possibility of parole, while a third defendant, Lama Lauvao, was sentenced to 10 years for assault.
In 2022, an appeals court granted a retrial for Samoa and Tautalatasi. The Intermediate Court of Appeals said the prosecution violated rules during the trial by showing video of Kanui at a rehabilitation facility in Colorado.
The defendants argued that evidence of Kanui’s physical condition three months after the attack had no bearing on whether they, at the time of the incident, intended to cause his death.