A judge on Friday found probable cause exists to try a 51-year-old Pahoa man for allegedly bludgeoning a tenant to death.
After a preliminary hearing that took place July 2 and on Friday, Hilo District Judge Harry Freitas ordered Stanley Marion Cummins to appear for arraignment and plea at 8 a.m. July 22 before Hilo Circuit Judge Peter Kubota.
Cummins is charged with second-degree murder for the death of 35-year-old Jace Whitney Ahquin, who police say died of a beating in a downstairs bedroom of Cummins’ Opae Street home in Hawaiian Beaches subdivision the morning of June 20.
Police say Cummins had a bloody baseball bat in his hand when he turned himself in at the Pahoa police station shortly after the alleged incident.
The house was substantially damaged by a fire Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Fire Department.
Cummins remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.