Fil-Am accused of murdering step mom pleads not guilty

A Filipino American accused of fatally stabbing his stepmother in Honolulu, Hawaii, last month will start facing a jury trial in August after pleading not guilty last Thursday.

Charly Hernane was arraigned at a circuit court in Honolulu on the charge of second-degree murder, according to Dave Koga, executive assistant of communications and community affairs of Honolulu’s Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The suspect will remain under the custody of Oahu Community Correctional Center while the trial is going on, Koga said. Hernane was accused of murdering his stepmother Teresita in their Kalihi home last May 11. The victim was found in her bedroom with a stab wound in her head and a kitchen knife next to her body. Immediately after the crime, the suspect was arrested a few blocks away from the scene of the crime, according to court records. The motive of the killing is still being investigated, according to Koga. If the jury finds him guilty of murdering his stepmother, Hernane will be sentenced a life prison term. Hernane was reported to have a “violent past and was battling drug addiction." He spent two years at a drug rehabilitation facility in the Philippines. It was reported that Teresita, a former hotel employee, adopted Charly and brought him to Hawaii from the Philippines in 1994. — Joseph Lariosa/JE/LBG, GMA News