Kilauea man gets 10 years in jail

LIHU‘E — A Kilauea man involved in an armed standoff with police last year has been sentenced to a decade in jail.

Pinu‘u Timothy Sexton, 47, pleaded no contest in October to two felonies for prohibited firearms possession — his prior convictions made it illegal for him to have the assault rifle he pointed at police — and two misdemeanor counts for reckless endangering and criminal property damage.

Sexton was arrested last July after an altercation that began when his former landlord, Merri Murphy, heard what sounded like an explosion coming from Sexton’s apartment and called police. Two Kauai Police Department officers showed up a short time later, walked up to Sexton’s door and found themselves facing a highly intoxicated man carrying a loaded, semi-automatic assault rifle.

The “explosion” Murphy heard had actually been Sexton shooting off a rapid-fire, three-round burst of bullets that struck a water pipe in his wall. The burst pipe flooded the bathroom of the apartment, but Murphy wouldn’t figure that out until after an armed standoff, which ended without injury when the KPD officers and Sexton’s ex-girlfriend talked him into putting down his gun.

“We’re happy that he’s not going to be on the streets any time soon,” Murphy said. “He’s not safe for society.”

“The first thing he did was apologize to me, but he certainly didn’t look at me. He looked down at his shoes the whole time,” Murphy said, describing the scene inside the courtroom. “The judge wasn’t buying any of it, so she gave him 10 years.”

Murphy said she had been hoping to be awarded more restitution. Sexton was ordered to pay Murphy over $1,600 for damage he caused. Murphy said that amount covered the plumbing and repair costs but was only a fraction of the $17,000 she requested based on lost rental income in the months after Sexton vacated the premises. She is pursuing civil action against Sexton in an attempt to have his possessions removed from her property.

Tyson Relacion and Vernon Basuel were awarded KPD officer of the month awards for deescalating the potentially deadly situation. Sexton’s ex-girlfriend, Vicki Taylor, said she stood between Sexton and the officers, who had their weapons drawn and were ordering the armed man to put his rifle down. The standoff ended after a few tense moments, which Taylor said “felt like an eternity.”