Hawaii Prison Inmate Faces The Death Penalty For A 2010 Murder In An Arizona Prison 0 An Arizona jury last week found prisoner Miti Maugaotega Jr. guilty of first-degree murder and will now decide if he should be executed, sparking controversy in Hawaii.
A Hawaii prisoner is facing the death penalty after being convicted in Arizona on Friday of first-degree murder for killing another inmate in 2010 in a case that raises new concerns about Hawaii’s longstanding practice of exporting its prison inmates to the mainland.
Slain inmate Bronson Nunuha was attacked as he was curled up on his bunk in his cell in a private prison called Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona — stabbed 140 times. His attackers carved the initials of a prison gang called USO Family into his chest.
Hawaii ended capital punishment 65 years ago — two years before statehood — but Arizona prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Miti Maugaotega Jr., who along with another inmate killed Nunuha on Feb. 18, 2010.
A 12-member Arizona jury convicted Maugaotega of first-degree murder on Friday after a day of deliberations, but acquitted him of a charge of participating in a criminal syndicate. That concluded the first phase of the case in Pinal County Superior Court.
