After just 4 hours, jury returns guilty verdict in gruesome North Shore murder
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - After less than four hours of deliberations, a jury on Friday found Stephen Brown guilty of murder and kidnapping in the gruesome 2017 killing of teacher, wife and mother Telma Boinville at a North Shore vacation rental.
Brown was convicted of murder, two counts of kidnapping and burglary.
While the verdict was being read Friday morning, Brown showed no emotion and stared straight ahead.
The judge later rescinded Brown’s bail, ordering him to remain behind bars ― where he has been since his arrest.
Before the verdict came down, Boinville’s family gathered in the courtroom to pray.
The family and their supporters will return to court Monday for a sentencing hearing.
Brown faces an extended sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole because of the multiple felonies.
Taking the stand as the only witness in his defense, Brown had blamed then-girlfriend Hailey Dandurand for the murder ― a story that conflicted with much of the physical and medical evidence. The jury clearly didn’t buy it.
Rather, the verdict confirmed the prosecutors’ theory that Boinville walked in on Brown and Dandurand in the vacation rental, was attacked, bound and hacked to death ― and her 8-year-old daughter Makana also tied up ― before arriving guests forced them to flee.
In closing arguments, prosecutors pinned much of the blame on the bigger and stronger Brown. And that conclusion could help Dandurand, whose trial is scheduled for July.
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During closing arguments on Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell dismantled Brown’s testimony that he made when he took the stand on Tuesday.
In his own defense, Brown claimed Dandurand killed Boinville while he stepped out of the home to keep a lookout after they tied her up.
Prosecutors said Brown was the only one “physically powerful enough to subdue Telma Boinville,” adding that he also made a critical admission to Boinville’s daughter that they killed her mother.
Brown’s defense attorney claimed that the prosecution does not know what happened in the house where the murder was committed and that the DNA evidence doesn’t tie his client to the weapons used to kill Boinville.
This story will be updated.
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