Makawao man gets 110 days in jail for hammer, rebar and chain beating | News, Sports, Jobs
WAILUKU — A Makawao man is serving a 110-day jail term for participating in an attack on another man, who reported being beaten with hammers, rebar and chains while a motorcycle club vest was taken from him.
Michael Benedetti, 48, was the last of six defendants to be sentenced after being indicted in the Sept. 27, 2015, assault in Kihei.
He and five other members of the Koa Puna motorcycle club were found guilty of the first-degree assault of former club member Frank Lopez, who suffered a skull fracture, orbital fracture, lacerations to his head and other injuries after being beaten while he was on the ground.
“They acted in concert. It was as a club that they went and beat up Frank,” said Deputy Prosecutor Emlyn Higa. “It was as an association that they did this.”
In a plea deal, Benedetti and the other five defendants pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of first-degree assault. The prosecution dismissed a second-degree assault charge for each defendant.
For the plea deal to go forward, all of the defendants had to agree to change their pleas, Higa said.
The agreement called for the men to be placed on four years’ probation, with the prosecution arguing for up to six months of jail.
Charges were dismissed against another defendant, who died while the case was pending.
Lopez said he had been a Koa Puna member for about six years before he and others left the club and tried to start a chapter of the Wild Bunch motorcycle club on Maui.
“We wanted to have a traditional motorcycle club,” Lopez said. “That was the excuse to launch the attack.”
On the day he was attacked, Lopez was driving to a friend’s house in Kihei when he noticed Benedetti behind him talking on the phone, Higa said.
He said at least one defendant acknowledged that “when I got the call, I answered it.”
Arriving in two trucks and on motorcycles, the defendants met at the house of Lopez’s friend and confronted Lopez, surrounding him and reaching to take the vest he was wearing that had Wild Bunch insignia and patches, Higa said.
He said a couple who witnessed part of the attack saw six or more men beating a man who was on the ground. Witnesses reported seeing weapons including pipes.
“I know all of them. I know where they all live. We all have each other’s phone numbers,” Lopez said after the sentencings. “Not once did they call me and say, ‘We’re going to resolve this.’ They waited till I was out in Kihei before they gathered and ambushed me over there.
“Times have changed. You hope people would be smarter rather than trying to use violence and attack people. That doesn’t really get anywhere anymore. It’s unfortunate that they weren’t smart enough to come up with a different way to resolve whatever problem they had.”
Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill assessed each defendant’s role in sentencing them to jail terms ranging from 60 to 110 days as part of four years’ probation.
Benedetti, who received the longest jail term, was sentenced June 26. He was allowed to turn himself in July 23 to begin serving the jail term.
The other five defendants were:
• Daryl Almeida, 48, of Pukalani, who was sentenced Jan. 25 to a 75-day jail term.
• Eddie Caires, 50, of Makawao, who was sentenced Dec. 19 to a 60-day jail term.
• Steven McBeath, 68, of Wailuku, who was sentenced Jan. 25 to a 95-day jail term.
• Robert Medeiros III, 43, of Kihei, who was sentenced Dec. 18 to a 90-day jail term.
• Edwin Rita, 46, of Makawao, who was sentenced Dec. 19 to a 75-day jail term.
The defendants were ordered to pay restitution totaling $505 to Lopez and $6,768 to Kaiser Permanente. The defendants also were ordered to complete anger management treatment and to stay away from Lopez.
Another requirement of each defendant’s probation said: “If you witness another person committing a crime, you must fully cooperate in the police investigation, and testify at any trial regarding that crime, if you can do so without incriminating yourself.”
Lopez, who was 40 when he was assaulted, said that while he would have liked to see the defendants sentenced to longer jail terms, “what they got sends a pretty good message that you can’t be childish anymore,” he said.
“You got to grow up,” he said. “I was unarmed. Nobody stopped to say, ‘What are we doing? We’re not going to hit a friend’ ”
Lopez said he didn’t try to retaliate but let the state prosecute the defendants.
“This wasn’t me versus them,” he said. “This was the state of Hawaii versus them. I was a witness and the victim.
“In my eyes, this is resolved. No one’s going to come after anybody.”
Lopez said he hoped Maui’s motorcycle community would embrace other riders.
“If you’re all about aloha, be about aloha and practice what you preach,” he said. “Hurting people is not an example of that kind of aloha. The island is too small, life is way too short.
“Even though colors and vests and names change, we’re all the same people.”
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