A Kawaihae man pleaded guilty to murder in the 2013 death of Kona musician Robert Keawe Lopaka Ryder.
A Kawaihae man pleaded guilty to murder in the 2013 death of Kona musician Robert Keawe Lopaka Ryder.
Martin Frank Booth faces life in prison with the possibility of parole when he is sentenced Dec. 22 by 3rd Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Strance, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sheri Lawson said Monday. In exchange for Booth’s guilty plea, prosecutors dropped an enhanced sentencing measure that would have denied him parole.
The 56-year-old remains incarcerated at Hawaii Community Correctional Center pending the sentencing hearing.
Booth was indicted June 9 by a Kona grand jury on the single charge of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 37-year-old Ryder.
His trial was slated to commence Nov. 25.
According to the June 9 indictment, prosecutors say Booth killed Ryder between Nov. 30 and Dec. 17.
Ryder’s family reported Ryder missing Jan. 17. They had not heard from him since Thanksgiving, according to a Hawaii Police Department media statement.
Police located Ryder’s decomposing body in a lava field in South Kohala in March.
He was found between Puako Beach Drive and Queen Kaahumanu Highway.
Media outlets attributing a police source said officers reported being led to the body by a person who told them he had been coerced by another individual to “corner” Ryder, and that the alleged accomplice said he saw that individual shoot Ryder and that he assisted the alleged shooter in disposing of the body.
In March, the medical examiner determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and the manner of death was homicide, according to police.
Lawson said she could not discuss the manner of death or other specifics of the case pending sentencing.
Booth also was recently sentenced in connection with three other cases filed in Circuit Court.
In the first case, filed in November, Booth was sentenced Oct. 2 to five years incarceration, with credit for time served, and ordered to pay a $105 fee for his July 31 guilty plea to second-degree assault.
In the second case, filed in January, Booth, who pleaded guilty July 31, was sentenced Oct. 2 concurrently to five years incarceration for first-degree terroristic threatening, third-degree promoting a dangerous drug and possessing drug paraphernalia; 10 years incarceration for failure to have a place to keep a pistol or revolver and possessing a firearm when ownership or possession is prohibited; and 20 years incarceration — with a mandatory minimum of eight years — for first-degree methamphetamine trafficking.
Booth, who will receive credit for time served, must also pay $6,030 in fees. The sentence handed down in this case runs concurrent to the five-year sentence for second-degree assault.
In the third case, filed in February, Booth was sentenced Oct. 2 to five years in jail and to pay a $105 fee for his July 31 guilty plea to first-degree bail jumping.
The sentence runs consecutively to the sentences handed down in the two above cases.
Email Chelsea Jensen at cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com.