Tag: direct killing

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Seal killer pleads guilty, gets 90-day term

Press Watch, Honolulu Advertiser, September 26, 2009

LIHU’E, Kaua’i — A 78-year-old Kaua’i man who shot and killed a pregnant Hawaiian monk seal in May pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the U.S. Endangered Species Act and began serving a 90-day term in the federal detention center on O’ahu.

Charles Vidinha “knew it was a Hawaiian monk seal at the time he fired his (Browning .22-caliber) rifle at her” on May 21 at Pila’a Beach, according to the plea agreement entered before Judge Barry M. Kurren yesterday. […]
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Silverberg, who prosecuted the case, said because Vidinha had never had trouble with the law before and is “broke … living out of a car essentially homeless, a fine didn’t seem to be consistent with justice.”

Silvert said his research found other cases of people being sentenced to probation after unintentionally killing endangered species. […]

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Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Pregnant Monk Seal

Press Watch, KHON2, September 25, 2009

A 78-year old Kauai man accused of killing a pregnant endangered Hawaiian monk seal in May pled guilty in federal court Friday.

Court documents reveal Charles Vidinha used his browning 22-caliber rifle to fire four rounds at the seal at Pilia’a Beach on Kauai’s North Shore.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Vidinha will serve 90 days in jail, and he won’t have to pay a fine or restitution.

If the case had gone to trial, he would’ve faced up to one year in prison and a $50,000 dollar fine.

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Trial set in death of monk seal

Press Watch, Honolulu Advertiser,  August 12, 2009

78-year-old man pleads not guilty in the fatal shooting on Kauai beach

A 78-year-old man accused of shooting to death an endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Kaua’i in May pleaded not guilty to the charge yesterday in U.S. District Court.

Charles Vidinha of Kaua’i was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond after entering his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Kobayashi. Vidinha’s trial was set for Oct. 14. […]

Vidinha is charged with shooting a pregnant monk seal May 21 at Pila’a Beach, a remote beach on Kaua’i’s north shore. The seal, known as RK-06, was the mother of five pups, federal officials said.

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Man indicted in shooting death of monk seal

News Watch, Honolulu Advertiser, August 5, 2009

A 78-year-old Kaua’i man was indicted today on a charge that he violated the U.S. Endangered Species Act in connection with the May 21 shooting death of a Hawaiian monk seal on the island’s north shore.

Charles Vidinha is expected to appear in federal court in Honolulu at 3 p.m. Tuesday for an arraignment on the charge.

Vidinha was indicted by a federal grand jury in Honolulu today.

If convicted, Vidinha faces maximum penalties of one year imprisonment and a fine of $50,000.

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Slain monk seals remembered

Press Watch — Honolulu Advertiser, June 19, 2009

Beach ceremony mourns Miloli’i Mom and playful young I-19

PO’IPU, Kaua’i — Holding a strand of limu kala, a seaweed signifying forgiveness, Sabra Kauka asked people at a ceremony yesterday for two slain Hawaiian monk seals to educate others about the endangered animals.

“They are the kama’aina to the kai,” Kauka said. “They come to land to rest, but the rest of the time their lives are in the sea. This is their home,” the teacher and kumu hula said as the ocean sparkled behind her at Po’ipu Beach Park.

About 100 people gathered to mourn the killings of two monk seals on Kaua’i in the past two months. Kauka took the ashes of the animals into the ocean on a canoe to close the event. […]

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Feds probing deaths of 2 monk seals

Press Watch — Honolulu Advertiser, June 18, 2009

Pregnant female shot in May; young male victim of ‘foul play’ in April

LIHU’E, Kaua’i — Federal officers are investigating the deliberate killings of two endangered Hawaiian monk seals on Kaua’i, and recently scoured a white pickup truck in search of a rifle believed to have been used to kill the monk seal known as RK06.

The officers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s law enforcement branch didn’t find a weapon in the June 9 search, documents in federal court in Honolulu indicate. But NOAA confirmed for the first time yesterday that RK06 was shot to death. […]

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