Defense Claims Oʻahu Jail Killing Had ‘Nothing To Do With Being In A Gang’
Lawyers for three defendants acknowledged their clients’ gang affiliations, but said other inmates beat Chris Vaefaga to death.
A defense lawyer in the trial of three alleged prison gang leaders accused in a fatal attack on another inmate said Thursday the beating death was triggered by a dispute between cellmates that “had nothing to do with being in a gang.”
Randall Hironaka, lawyer for Bronson Tuitelelepaga, told an Oʻahu Circuit Court jury the death of Chris Vaefaga in a jail module that houses gang members stemmed from Vaefaga binging on drugs for days in a crowded four-man cell. All three defendants are innocent, their attorneys said in opening statements.
One of Vaefaga’s cellmates complained Vaefaga was “being absolutely disgusting,” said Hironaka, who suggested Vaefaga may have been beaten to death on July 6, 2023, by one or more of his cellmates at the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center.
After Vaefaga was discovered dead in his cell, “it was bartering time for some of the inmates at Module 13,” Hironaka said. “They were willing to trade misinformation and lies for benefits or a get-out-of-jail card.”
An Oʻahu grand jury indicted Tuitelelepaga, his brother Aaron Tuitelapaga and Manu Sorensen on manslaughter charges for Vaefaga’s death. A fourth prisoner, Josiah “Bird” Palimoomanu, was also indicted, and pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in the case last year.
The trial that opened Thursday offers a rare glimpse of the control exercised by gangs in parts of Hawaiʻi’s prisons and jails.
Inmates testified before the grand jury in 2023 that Module 13, where Vaefaga was housed, was run by Tuitelelepaga and Tuitelapaga, who spell their names differently. The two are alleged leaders of a gang known as Murder Inc., which is closely affiliated with a second gang known as Westside.
Deputy Attorney General Adrian Dhakhwa, who is prosecuting the case, said in his in opening statement the gang leaders controlled everything in Module 13, not the adult correctional officers or the state.
“All the inmates know, you don’t go to the ACOs, you go to them,” Dhakhwa said of the gang leadership. He said when an inmate became upset with Vaefaga’s behavior, he complained to Tuitelelepaga, and as many as six inmates went to Vaefaga’s cell to “pound the crap out of him.”
An inmate tattoo artist in the module was then summoned to Vaefaga’s cell to cover the tattoo or “patch” on the back of Vaefaga’s neck that identified him as a member, Dhakhwa said. Another alleged gang member was then moved into the cell to ensure Vaefaga, 36, did not report the beating, Dhakhwa said.
Vaefaga, 36, eventually died of blunt force head trauma that caused bleeding in his brain, but his body was not discovered by the prison staff until hours later.
Aaron Wills, lawyer for Tuitelapaga, acknowleged the three men on trial are members of the gang, but said Tuitelapaga was not in Vaefaga’s cell when he was assaulted, and is innocent.
Evidence in the case will show that every prosecution witness “has something to gain from their testimony,” Wills said. “These men are charged or have been found guilty with serious crimes, they may be doing serious time, and these are men with their own motives.”
“These men are not coming to testify out of the goodness of their heart,” he said.
Sorensen is represented by attorney Emlyn Higa, who said two other inmates showed signs of swelling on their right hands after Vaefaga was beaten, and alleged they killed Vaefaga. “The defendants that are before you had nothing to do with this,” Higa told the jury.
The trial is expected to continue in Judge Paul Wong’s courtroom until mid-August. A manslaughter conviction carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
