HONOLULU (AP) – A Pittsburgh man charged with manslaughter in the death of a friend he vacationed with in Hawaii is allowed to return to mainland America ahead of his trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Benjamin Fleming, released on a $ 250,000 bond, is required to return to hearings in the Big Island in June and two weeks before his August 3 trial, ruled 3rd District Court Judge Robert DS Kim.
Fleming and two friends he has known since attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh stayed in a vacation rental in Kailua-Kona last month.
Alexander Germany-Wald of Montclair, New Jersey, testified at a preliminary hearing for Fleming that her friend Abhishek Gupta, also from Pittsburgh, was “psychotically” drunk on her first night on the Big Island.
Germany Forest said he took Gupta back to the rental where Gupta hit him. When Fleming returned to the apartment, he intervened by holding Gupta back, Germany-Wald said.
Gupta snored on the floor, but the other two men later noticed that he was stopping breathing, Germany-Wald said.
An autopsy revealed that Gupta had been strangled.
Kim on Wednesday denied Fleming’s request to lower his bail to $ 100,000. Kim noted that a bail bond firm had already booked $ 250,000.
Assistant Attorney Charles Murray didn’t refuse to allow Fleming to leave Hawaii, but said his bail should stay the same due to the nature of the charge and his lack of attachment to Hawaii.
Kim said Fleming could leave but had imposed conditions, including not leaving the United States without court permission, signing an extradition waiver, and returning at least two weeks before his trial begins.
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