A 39-year-old Puna man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a fatal shooting with a bang stick in 2022.

Hilo Circuit Judge Peter Kubota sentenced Ammon K.S. Stanley on Nov. 12 for manslaughter, second- degree assault and third- degree arson for the April 22, 2022, incident that killed 23-year-old Haku Waipa of Kurtistown.

Stanley originally was charged with second-degree murder, but in a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded no contest on Aug. 1 to the manslaughter, assault and arson charges.

Manslaughter is a Class A felony with a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, while second-degree assault and third-degree arson are both Class C felonies that carry a maximum five-year prison sentence. A second-degree murder conviction would have resulted in a mandatory sentence of life i

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