Overview

• The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi’s conviction for the 2014 shovel attack on Christopher Kunzelman, backing the jury’s hate crime determination.
• Judges remanded his case for a new sentencing phase under federal guidelines that could add as many as three years to his original six-and-a-half-year sentence.
• Co-defendant Levi Aki Jr. saw his appeal and prosecutors’ cross-appeal of his four-year term voluntarily dismissed, solidifying his custody status.
• The Hawaii Innocence Project plans to challenge Alo-Kaonohi’s conviction, arguing his defense was ineffective and the term ‘haole’ was mischaracterized.
• The victim’s family highlighted Kunzelman’s lasting brain injuries and the resulting personal and community fallout over property access.