Man gets jail term for role in fatal hunting accident
April 20, 2009

WAILUKU - More than three years after a Molokai man was fatally shot during a hunting expedition in a remote area, a man was taken into custody Friday to serve a one-year jail term for illegally possessing a rifle he used that day.

Phillip "Kamaki" Solatorio, 38, also was placed on five years' probation as part of the sentence imposed by 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen.

"Nothing I do today will satisfy anybody sitting here," Bissen said, as Solatorio's family as well as family members of the late Juanito Pico Jr. filled the courtroom gallery. "I can tell how hard it must be to relive all of this one more time."

Although there was inconclusive forensic evidence, Deputy Prosecutor Mark Simonds said a police investigation indicated that Solatorio's 14-year-old son fired the shot that accidentally killed Pico.

But Solatorio played a part in what happened with his "cavalier attitude," Simonds said.

"He set a very poor example," Simonds said. "He made choices that contributed to this death. He's a convicted felon. He has no qualms about handling a firearm that day. He trespasses on private land to go hunting."

Solatorio had pleaded no contest to being a felon in possession of a firearm on Nov. 30, 2005. That day, Solatorio went with his son, Pico and two others to hunt in the Waikane area on the south side of Molokai. The five had traveled by boat to hunt axis deer without permission on Molokai Ranch property.

Shortly after 2 p.m., police received a call from Solatorio, who used his cellular telephone to report the shooting. Simonds said Solatorio told a 911 dispatcher: "I don't know what happened. I think he fell down. He shot himself or something. He's shot in the chest."

Solatorio later told a police sergeant that Pico and his nephew were the only ones with guns, Simonds said, although police eventually recovered four rifles that had been hidden after the shooting.

Solatorio lied, apparently in an attempt to protect his son, but was later confronted with others' statements, Simonds said.

Police concluded Pico was shot accidentally when the boy fired into a herd of deer.

In court Friday afternoon, family members displayed a lei-draped photo of Pico, a 41-year-old Kualapuu resident and father of four.

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Of the statements that Solatorio gave to police, Bissen said the one that stood out was Solatorio "almost bragging" that he had been on hundreds of "missions," each time making contingency plans to change clothing and hide rifles and game if they were caught.

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Bissen said one letter described Solatorio as a reckless and wasteful hunter and someone with no empathy for others.

According to court records, Solatorio has convictions for attempted second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangering and keeping a firearm in an improper place in a 1990 case. After an attempted second-degree murder charge was reduced to first-degree reckless endangering and a terroristic threatening charge was dismissed, Solatorio was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 200 hours of community service as part of five years' probation, court records show.

He also has a conviction for possession of a deadly weapon, a reduced charge, for a 1994 incident involving a rifle, according to court records.