A 32-year-old Kurtistown man pleaded guilty Wednesday for his role in the slaying of a 44-year-old Hawaiian Acres man in late 2012. ADVERTISING A 32-year-old Kurtistown man pleaded guilty Wednesday for his role in the slaying of a 44-year-old Hawaiian
A 32-year-old Kurtistown man pleaded guilty Wednesday for his role in the slaying of a 44-year-old Hawaiian Acres man in late 2012.
Claude Keone Krause entered his plea to second-degree murder for the killing of Dante Peter Gilman on Dec. 28, 2012, at Gilman’s home.
In exchange for his murder plea, prosecutors dropped burglary, robbery, theft and three firearms charges.
He’s scheduled to be sentenced at 8 a.m. Dec. 8 before Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara.
Under terms of the plea deal, Krause will be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole and prosecutors will request the Hawaii Paroling Authority set his minimum prison term at 30 years.
Krause was scheduled to stand trial starting Nov. 3.
According to court documents, video surveillance footage from Gilman’s home showed Krause pointing “what appears to be a rifle” at Gilman, and his cousin, Kawena Krause, then 19, choking the victim until he stopped moving.
A teenage boy who also was at the scene was questioned, according to police, but has not been charged.
Kawena Krause, now 21, already pleaded no contest to the murder and will be sentenced Dec. 2 before Hara.
The judge asked Claude Krause what happened Dec. 28, 2012, and Krause replied, “There was a situation.”
Hara then asked Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville what the state would prove if the case went to trial.
“The defendant, Mr. Claude Krause, was armed with a firearm and, basically, pointed the firearm at the victim in this case while Kawena Krause strangled him to death,” Damerville said.
“Mr. Claude Krause, together with what you told me and what the prosecutor told me, those are the facts that you are admitting and pleading guilty to with respect to aiding, abetting Kawena Krause in causing the death of Dante Gilman, murdering him?” Hara inquired.
“Yes,” Krause replied in subdued voice.
Claude Krause is a convicted felon who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2001 for sex assault and burglary.
The victim in that crime was the late Mayapple McCullough, a founder of the group Citizens for Justice, who was a vocal critic of police and helped to bring killers to justice in at least two high profile Big Island murder cases: the Christmas Eve 1992 abduction, rape and murder of Dana Ireland, which resulted in the convictions of Frank Pauline Jr., Albert Ian Schweitzer and Shawn Schweitzer almost a decade later; and the Nov. 27, 1992, murder of Yvonne Mathison, which resulted in the conviction of her police sergeant husband, Kenneth Mathison.
Gilman, a one-time competition surfer, was the son of the late Peter Gilman, a Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter in the 1950s and author of the best-selling novel “Diamond Head,” which was made into a 1963 film starring Charlton Heston. The younger Gilman was reported missing Jan. 10, 2013.
His body was found 12 days later by police along the “Tree Planting Road” off Stainback Highway in Panaewa.
Gilman reportedly drank heavily and bragged publicly when drunk that he buried a lot of money on his property, which might have made him a target.
His girlfriend, Alohalani Silva, told the Tribune-Herald last year that Gilman installed the cameras several months before his death because he feared the Krauses after they had stolen a motorcycle from him.
She added that led to several confrontations between Gilman and the Krauses, culminating in the slaying.
Silva said the Krauses stole the video cameras, then ransacked and burglarized Gilman’s home after killing him, but couldn’t find the surveillance system’s hard drive containing footage of the homicide. She said she turned that video evidence over to police.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
