A Honomu man serving 10 years probation on a manslaughter conviction violated that probation by using methamphetamine, according to court records.
A Honomu man serving 10 years probation on a manslaughter conviction violated that probation by using methamphetamine, according to court records.
Daniel Schuster appeared Tuesday before Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara. According to the minutes of the hearing, Schuster — whose terms of probation include drug testing — tested positive for methamphetamine on Jan. 28 and admitted to using the drug on Jan. 24.
Schuster’s probation officer also told the court that Schuster tested positive for meth on Feb. 5. Schuster waived his rights to a hearing and admitted to meth use while on probation, the minutes state.
Hara sentenced Schuster to four days in jail, stayed, and ordered him to appear Thursday morning for a HOPE probation warning hearing.
Schuster appeared at Thursday’s hearing in custody. At the hearing, Hara told Schuster and another HOPE probationer that they were placed in the more intensive and closely supervised HOPE program because he and others believed they could become “productive and law-abiding” citizens with the increased scrutiny.
“That includes being drug-free,” the judge said Thursday.
The HOPE program includes daily check-ins with the probation department by phone. It also requires probationers to report within two hours for drug testing when directed. Failure to make the call, to report when directed for a drug test, and a positive drug test all result in an immediate bench warrant issued by the court.
In a plea agreement with prosecutors, the 50-year-old Schuster pleaded guilty on Sept. 6 to the fatal stabbing of 30-year-old Joshua Trickel on July 22, 2012, at Schuster’s Pua Street home. The deal was struck at the request of Trickel’s mother, Leslie Peters, and one of Trickel’s sisters.
Schuster was originally charged with second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, as well as third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. Two glass pipes and a zip-lock bag, all containing methamphetamine residue, were found in Schuster’s home.
Schuster, a registered nurse, could have received a 20-year prison sentence for the manslaughter conviction. He had been incarcerated for 15 months before his release on Sept. 6.
Peters had a change of heart during the course of the case. In August 2012, she told the Tribune-Herald that she hoped Schuster “spends the rest of his life in prison.”
Her stance softened considerably by the time Schuster was sentenced on Nov. 5. She said then she supported the probation deal because her son, despite his own problem with drugs, was a forgiving person and would have wanted forgiveness for Schuster, as well.