A Honolulu jury took just a few hours Tuesday to find three alleged prison gang leaders not guilty of manslaughter in the beating death of an inmate at the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center in 2023.
Aaron “Rona” Tuitelapaga, his brother Bronson Tuitelelepaga, and Manu Sorensen were all acquitted after a two-week trial that provided a dramatic and detailed view of the power wielded by prison gangs in some portions of the Hawaiʻi correctional system.
The trial also offered a disturbing snapshot of events inside that suggested some correctional officers either cooperated with gangs at OCCC or deliberately ignored gang activity…