Pittsburgh man may leave Hawaii before manslaughter trial
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) — A judge is allowing a Pittsburgh man charged with manslaughter in the death of the friend he was vacationing with to return to the U.S. mainland before his trial. The judge says Benjamin Fleming must return to the Big Island for hearings in June and two weeks before his August trial. Fleming and two friends he’s known since college at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh were staying at a Kailua-Kona Airbnb. Abhishek Gupta, also of Pittsburgh, died after a fistfight. An autopsy determined he was strangled. The judge is denying Fleming’s request to reduce his $250,000 bail.