The beating of an elderly man who tried to stop a deadly attack on a Kailua woman last month has led a state senator to propose stronger penalties for assaults against Good Samaritans.

The 69-year-old man was knocked unconscious when he intervened as Alapeti Siuanu Tunoa Jr. allegedly beat Janel Tupuola to death with a shotgun in front of several terrified witnesses at a Kailua intersection, police said.

Felony crimes against the elderly, the disabled and children already can bring extended prison sentences under state law. But state Senate Minority Leader Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua, Waimanalo, Hawai'i Kai), wants to add Good Samaritans.

"It was a terrible crime of a woman getting beaten to death in front of everybody and most everybody being afraid, for a number of reasons, to intervene. The one person who does intervene gets pummeled," Hemmings said. "I think enhanced sentencing, hopefully, can bring more consequences and basically get these thugs off the street and keep them in jail for a longer period of time."

He defines a Good Samaritan in his bill as a person who uses justifiable force or calls the authorities to provide emergency assistance in good faith and without compensation. A felony assault against a Good Samaritan who intervenes to protect someone from murder, manslaughter, any felony sex offense, robbery, assault, burglary or kidnapping would be covered.

The extended sentencing law is directed at persistent and dangerous offenders and criminals who target the vulnerable or commit hate crimes. The length of the sentence depends on the type and severity of the crime. Juries in most cases will determine the facts that trigger longer prison sentences.

Jack Tonaki, the state's public defender, said defining who is acting as a Good Samaritan could be problematic.

"It's a vague term, and you're going to be asking to exact a really stiff penalty. I don't think there is a particular problem in this area," Tonaki said. "I can see it having a lot of unintended applications and consequences."

Hemmings and state Sen. Robert Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa), met Wednesday with state Attorney General Mark Bennett and Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle about the Good Samaritan proposal and a Bunda idea to allow the electronic filing of temporary restraining orders on nights and weekends when courts are closed.

"If you have a bill that basically says we want to increase the sentence because someone is deliberately targeting someone who tried to help the safety of another, I think that's a concept worth looking at," Bennett said of the Good Samaritan bill. "But you have to have careful definitions. Everybody would agree that the incident on the Windward side, where somebody was deliberately targeting someone who was trying to save the life of someone else — or at least that's what's been reported in the press — that's something where it's perfectly appropriate if those facts are true to enhance a sentence.

"But you have to make sure it's narrowly defined."

Hemmings' bill as written would apply at sentencing, after a criminal is already convicted, although his staff is considering an amendment that would authorize prosecutors to bring a specific charge for assaulting Good Samaritans who intervene in public attacks.

State Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, is still looking over bills for the session and has not decided whether to hold a hearing on the Good Samaritan bill.

"It doesn't sound like a bad idea to me," Taniguchi said.

State Rep. Tommy Waters, D-51st (Lanikai, Waimanalo), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he would hear the Good Samaritan bill if it comes over from the Senate but, like others, he has concerns about the definition.

Waters, responding to a knife attack against a pregnant woman and her teenage son on the Big Island last June, has proposed extended sentences for attacks on pregnant women.

"I want to make sure it does what we want it to do," he said of a Good Samaritan bill.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.