Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-656
As part of such sentence, the court shall order the director of corrections and rehabilitation and the Hawaii paroling authority to prepare an application for the governor to commute the sentence to life imprisonment with parole at the end of twenty years of imprisonment; provided that persons who are repeat offenders under section 706-606.5 shall serve at least the applicable mandatory minimum term of imprisonment.
Persons under the age of eighteen years at the time of the offense who are convicted of first degree murder or first degree attempted murder shall be sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.
If the court imposes a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole pursuant to section 706-657, as part of that sentence, the court shall order the director of corrections and rehabilitation and the Hawaii paroling authority to prepare an application for the governor to commute the sentence to life imprisonment with parole at the end of twenty years of imprisonment; provided that persons who are repeat offenders under section 706-606.5 shall serve at least the applicable mandatory minimum term of imprisonment.
HRS § 706-656
COMMENTARY ON § 706-656
Act 271, Session Laws 1993, amended this section to provide that in cases designated under § 706-657, the person may be sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The legislature felt that the court should have the discretion to determine when the circumstances of the murder justify the enhanced sentence, and that this discretion should be limited to those situations demonstrating exceptional depravity. House Standing Committee Report No. 1171, Senate Standing Committee Report No. 689.
For sentencing purposes, conspiracy to commit second degree murder is a class C felony under § 706-610 and subject to the sentencing provisions of § 706-660, not this section.84 Haw. 280,933 P.2d 617. Sentence for murder not an extended term. 6 H. App. 409, 723 P.2d 186.