Hawaii hate crime trial begins for beating of white man
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) — A trial is underway for two Native Hawaiian men charged with a hate crime in the 2014 beating of a white man who bought a house in their remote village on Maui. Attorneys for Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi and Levi AkiJr. don’t dispute the assault but say it wasn’t a hate crime. Prosecutors say Alo-Kaonohi punched and kicked Christopher Kunzelman and Aki hit him with a shovel when Kunzelman tried to fix up the oceanfront house he purchased in Kahakuloa village. Attorneys for the men say they were motivated by Kunzelman’s attitude not by his race.