A 34-year-old man was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole Wednesday in the murder of a homeless man in Kailua two years ago.
Robert Ryan Roediger-Geauque was convicted in August of second-degree murder.
He had fled the state earlier this year before being charged with murdering Scott MacMillan, 37, on Jan. 13, 2014, in the stairwell of an Uluniu Street building during a dispute over a dry place to sleep. MacMillan was stabbed more than 20 times.
Deputy Prosecutor Wayne Tashima said it will be up to the parole board to set Roediger-Geauque’s minimum term.
The victim’s mother, Donna MacMillan, told Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree before sentencing that “the empty space always will be there since Scott left us,” adding, “Our family is no longer whole.”
Shawn MacMillan told the court that he “not only lost a brother, but one of my closest friends.”
“My son will never see his uncle again,” he said as he broke down in tears, adding, “Towards the end of his life he had some rough patches, but if anyone could have turned it around it was my brother.”
But Eve Mann, Roediger-
Geauque’s grandmother, told Crabtree and the
MacMillans that he was innocent.
“Ryan has been framed,” Mann said. “The man who killed your brother is still out there.”
In his statement, Tashima said that although Roedger-
Geauque never admitted to killing MacMillan, he did say in a pre-sentencing report that he was “remorseful,” which Tashima said should be treated as an admission.
Tashima said that Roediger-Geauque was sentenced to 210 days in jail in 2014 after he was convicted of fourth-degree sex assault.
Roediger-Geauque told the victim’s family that he “was sorry for their loss.” adding, “I am right with God and trying to make myself a better man.”
Mann tried to tell Crabtree that defense attorney Arthur Indiola did not present all the facts in the case.
The judge then ordered a recess. As attorneys conferred with the judge, Mann continued to speak.
“Ryan, you have to stand up for yourself,” she said. “You know you are being framed.”
She said that her grandson, whom she raised, has the “mentality of a 12-year-old.”
When told by Crabtree that she should confer with Indiola, Mann replied: “He (Indiola) sabotaged the whole trial.”
Following the recess the judge told Mann that he was willing to hear anything that would bear on sentencing, but that he “would not re-litigate the trial.”
Crabtree said Roediger-
Geauque has a right to appeal.
At that point Mann was escorted out of the courtroom by a deputy sheriff.
A jury deliberated for barely two hours Aug. 4 before finding Roediger-
Geauque guilty of murder.
Prosecutors said MacMillan, 37, had permission to use the covered space and refused to share it with Roediger-Geauque on a rainy night.
Roediger-Geauque left the islands before being charged with murder.
He was extradited to Hawaii on April 5 after his arrest in Santa Barbara, Calif., on March 6.
Another hearing will be held Nov. 14 to finalize extradition and restitution costs.
MacMillan, a Kalaheo High School graduate, was a former chef at Lucy’s Grill &Bar and Island Fusion.
