A former Pearl Harbor sailor accused of beating a neighbor to death has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the charge was reduced from second-degree murder.

Kendall Edmonds will be sentenced March 7 and faces a maximum 20-year sentence. City Deputy Prosecutor Albert Cook said he will ask for the maximum sentence.

Edmonds pleaded guilty to manslaughter last Wednesday before Honolulu District Judge Karl Sakamoto.

Edmonds was accused of killing Michael Gillum, a neighbor at the Century Park Plaza apartments in Pearl City, on Aug. 9, 2004. According to previous testimony by police homicide detective Larry Tamashiro, Edmonds told police he heard banging on his wall and then heard his door being kicked. Edmonds went into the hallway and got into a confrontation with Gillum.

Edmonds ducked away from an attempted punch by Gillum, then hit Gillum in the face. Gillum staggered backward, hit a wall and fell, the detective testified.

Edmonds said he straddled his neighbor and punched him with both fists five or six times, although Gillum was not fighting back, Tamashiro testified.

Last Wednesday, Cook said that after further investigation, Edmonds' actions were the result of a "reckless state of mind" rather than a premeditated plot Gillum, thus prompting the lowering of the charge to manslaughter.

"Upon further investigation it appears his actions were reckless as opposed to intentional," Cook said.

Sakamoto agreed to allow Edmonds to return home to Bessamer, Ala., before sentencing.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.