LIHUE — A man accused of killing a goat will wait another week for a hearing to determine if his probation can be changed. In 2013, Ryan Winchell was sentenced to serve five years probation after police say he and
LIHUE — A man accused of killing a goat will wait another week for a hearing to determine if his probation can be changed.
In 2013, Ryan Winchell was sentenced to serve five years probation after police say he and his co-defendant, Russell Ho‘omanawanui, beheaded a pregnant goat, named Kaitlyn, that belonged to Kunana Dairy.
On Wednesday, Winchell appeared before Judge Kathleen Watanabe on charges of theft of livestock, cruelty to animals and having an unloaded firearm in an illegal place, to discuss a motion that would revoke or modify his sentence.
But his attorney, Mark Zenger, asked for it to be re-scheduled.
“There’s been a series of short continuances, and we’re going to ask for one more,” he said. “Ms. (Ginger) Grinpas is working with probation to see if there’s a settlement that can be made.”
If one is not reached by next week, both parties agreed to schedule an evidentiary hearing, Zenger said.
Grinpas, deputy prosecuting attorney, did not object to the continuance.
According to reports, after beheading Kaitlyn, the men took the edible parts, including the head, leaving behind the guts and unborn kids.
Officials with the Kauai Police Department said the two men stole a 3-year-old goat, four months into pregnancy, from a pasture in Moloaa sometime between April 27 and 29, 2011.
The men allegedly climbed over a fence to gain access to the private property where the goats were kept, according to police.
Ho‘omanawanui said his girlfriend encouraged him to approach the owners of Kunana Dairy about the crime and that he agreed to take Winchell, who was his neighbor, to a hunting area if he let him fire his new gun.
Both were drinking, he said.
Winchell was arrested on June 30, 2011, and Ho‘omanawanui was arrested on July 18, 2011.
Winchell, who was 29 at the time, was arrested on charges of first-degree criminal property damage, second-degree theft, theft of livestock, and having and storing a firearm in illegal places to keep the firearm.
The theft, property damage and storage of firearms charges were dismissed on Aug. 1, 2013.
That same year, Ho‘omanawanui was sentenced to five years probation and 56 days in jail. He was also ordered to pay $8,347.21 in restitution for the goat, and another $500 for the unborn kids that died with its mother.
Winchell will be back in court on Aug. 23.
