Billy Sinclair charged on Kauaʻi with 28 offenses: murder, attempted murder, possession of illegal weapons
State prosecutors asked for no bail saying the 51-year-old was a flight risk and danger to the community, but the Fifth Circuit Court judge kept bail at $1.5 million.
8 hours ago
William “Billy” Sinclair of Kīlauea, who led Kauaʻi police on a 2-day manhunt last week after allegedly killing a 37-year-old and shooting at another person, was formally charged Monday with 28 counts that include second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and multiple weapons offenses.
A 21-page criminal complaint outlines the charges against 51-year-old Sinclair, who has been in custody since June 8. The most serious accounts of murder and attempted murder each can be punished by up to a $50,000 fine and life imprisonment.
Sinclair, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, was in Fifth Circuit Court on Monday afternoon for a pretrial bail report hearing. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer S. Winn requested no bail for Sinclair, citing that he was a flight risk due to the extended manhunt he led police on. The state argued he also should have no bail because he is a danger to the community due to all the alleged “serious” charges against him.
Winn added that when Sinclair was caught by police, “a loaded firearm was recovered from his vest.”
Winn also said Sinclair had prior felonies of robbery and assault with a firearm. Police said last week that Sinclair has no previous criminal record in Hawaiʻi, but he did have felonies in California.
Judge Matthew Bracken denied the no bail request, keeping it at $1.5 million. It originally was set at $500,000, but after a judicial review of evidence recovered during the investigation by Kaua‘i police, bail was increased to $1.5 million.
Some of that evidence was outlined in the complaint. Counts 5 to 25 were all about illegal weapons in his possession. They included included a Glock 9mm caliber pistol, a two-shot David Industries .22 caliber pistol, a Polymer 80 semiautomatic handgun, a multicolored 300 AAC Blackout 7.62 caliber short barrel rifle, black Radikal NK1 12-gauge shotgun, black unmarked rifle,
Optima 50 caliber black powder rifle, unbranded AR 15, Black Palmetto State Armory PA15 rifle,
Black Rossi RS22 rifle and a Black Palmetto State Armory AR rifle.
Each of those offenses is punishable by a maximum fine of $25,000 and up to 10 years in prison.
He also was charged for having illegal ammunition, a black suppressor (silencer) and a black Bulldog Case sock case containing a multicolored AR upper with suppressor. Each of these charges if punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 and up to five years in jail.
Police said Sinclair was the suspect in the murder of Sergio “Tito” Reyes Hernandez on the evening of June 5. His girlfriend found him at the restaurant where he worked in Hanalei with gunshot wounds to his chest, a friend of the girlfriend told Kauaʻi Now.
Just a few hours after the homicide occurred, police responded to a call outside Sinclairʻs residence on Kīlauea Road where a victim reported being shot at by Sinclair. The victim was identified as Shey Ferguson in the complaint. Police said the victim was grazed by the bullet.
Police set up a large perimeter around the house and shutdown portions of Kīlauea Road for nearly 10 hours, but police said Sinclair snuck out the backdoor and had slipped away. Two days later, he was spotted by the Kapaʻa Public Library. He ran into the waters and remained there for a few hours before police finally got him to give up without incident after he was surrounded by a boat, Jet Ski, drone and officers on the land.
Sinclair was represented by public defender Renee Arndt. After the hearing was over, she provided the judge with a notification of a conflict of interest to be removed from the case. But befefore the hearing began, Sinclair acknowledged he knew about the conflict and had no objection to her handling this one hearing.
Sinclair will next be in court for a preliminary hearing on June 17 at 1 p.m.
