Circuit Judge Shanlyn Park prefaced her sentencing of a Honolulu police sergeant’s son, convicted of murdering 18-year-old Haaheo Kolona on Round Top Drive, with empathy for Kolona’s mother, saying that as a mother she can understand.
After desperately trying to reach her son that night with no response, she learned “her son was murdered and her world has crumbled,” the judge said.
So it may have come as a surprise to Kolona’s family when the judge denied the state’s motion for extended sentencing, which would have meant 22-year-old Nainoa Damon would be sentenced to life without parole for the March 18, 2022, murder.
Instead, she sentenced him to life with the possibility of parole, setting a mandatory minimum term of 15 years for the murder charge, to run concurrently with an indeterminate term of 20 years for two Class A felony firearm charges and first-degree robbery, 10 years for a Class B felony firearms charge and five years for first-degree terroristic threatening, with credit for the two years and five months served.
He was also ordered to pay $3,980.73 in restitution to Kolona’s mother, Carolee Kolona.
A heavy law enforcement presence was inside and outside the courtroom. The gallery and the hallway outside were filled with family and friends of both Damon and Kolona.
After Park sentenced Damon, the victim’s father, Blake Kolona, blurted out loud from his seat in the gallery, “Fifteen years? I’m not happy with that, I respectfully tell you, Judge.”
He was ushered outside the courtroom by deputy sheriffs, and continued, “This f—-g court is corrupt. Maybe because his mom is a f—-g sergeant at Wahiawa police station.”
“This man wen’ kill my son, and he got f—-g 15 years,” Kolona said of his only son. “Life for life. I’m speaking to all the parents out there. Right here: Haaheo,” Kolona said, holding up a wooden urn containing his son’s remains.
Deputy Prosecutor Anna Jackson said she took the case to trial, the jury convicted Damon and justice prevailed. The matter now goes before the Hawaii Paroling Authority for all six counts he was convicted on.
“I was disappointed (in the sentence) given the gravity of the impact that this case had on all those involved — his friends and family,” she said.
Damon’s mother, Sgt. Jennifer Bugarin, said, “No comment,” when asked about the sentence and Kolona’s accusation of corruption because she is a police officer.
In a November news article, Bugarin said she was a single mom with a 2-year-old son when she joined HPD, and worked the night shift so she could be with her son in the mornings, and relied on her mother to watch him.
Bugarin married HPD officer Christopher Bugarin, and in 2019 won the Mrs. Hawaii America pageant, saying on the pageant site she is proudest of receiving the bronze medal of valor for saving a suicidal male.
Damon addressed the court, saying, “I wanted to speak my feelings.”
He asked the judge to review the evidence “and please give me a second chance.”
He told the Kolona family, “I’m really sorry for your guys’ loss. I understand how you feel. … I’m not that person.”
And he thanked his family for their support and said he now walks by faith.
The judge said Damon had a history of juvenile convictions.
While Damon, wearing a ski mask, told the large group of friends gathered at a scenic lookout on Round Top Drive that it was a robbery, testimony of Damon’s former friend Uilani Yen seems to indicate he was jealous of Edward Aiden Curti. Damon “wanted her to go out with him and went out with Aiden’s group instead,” Jackson had told the jury.
Many in the group knew Damon and could identify him.
Kawena Kolona told the judge, “My brother was killed by Nainoa, who wanted to look cool in front of his friends, all over a chain and a girl. … But my brother, who can’t be replaced, lost his life for something so dumb and pointless.”
The judge said Damon’s crime began when he drove up to Tantalus and failed to retreat when confronted.
She said, “The types of offenses Mr. Damon is being sentenced for are horrific,” saying he “acted out of greed with a callous disregard for life,” demanded a gold chain from Curti and, when he saw Kolona reach for a gun, did not retreat.
Instead, Damon pulled Kolona close and shot him in the belly.
His lawyer, Nelson Goo, said the 20 to 25 letters of support speak to his character, and that as an adult Damon had no convictions except for this incident.
Park said she took into account “every single one” of the many letters she received and words of support for both men, including Damon, who was 19 at the time of the March 2022 shooting during a botched robbery at a scenic lookout, and other factors.
She said Kolona was not the only victim. She named some of the 13 who testified, saying they were traumatized and felt the terror of having a gun pointed at them, the feeling of helplessness.
The community has suffered, as well as the immediate family, Park said.
Carolee Kolona said there is “an agony you carry with you every day,” the judge noted, and Blake Kolona said, “I don’t even know how to explain the pain I feel.”
Park said Damon’s family wrote how he had a history of juvenile crimes and was struggling with life.
But the Nainoa loved by his family was different from the man who committed the crimes, she said.
When he was a senior in high school, he moved in with his grandparents to help his sick grandfather, embraced his “Papa,” his mother wrote the judge, and volunteered with her to help feed the homeless.
The judge said, “This sentence alone will not stop the violence in our community,” and implored the community to do what they can to prevent substance and alcohol abuse to prevent further violence.
