A federal appeals court has overturned the life sentence of a Honolulu man convicted of attempted manslaughter, a decision that could affect the sentences of about 100 other prisoners in Hawai'i.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a lower court's ruling that the state's use of a law that allows a judge to impose an extended prison term is unconstitutional.

In cases ranging from auto theft to murder, judges have imposed sentences that were longer than the norm for such crimes if the defendant was deemed a danger to society.

But in the ruling released yesterday, the appeals court said a jury, not a judge, must decide whether an extended sentence is necessary for the protection of the public.

The case involves the attempted-manslaughter conviction of Wayman Kaua after a 22-hour standoff with police in 1998 in Pacific Palisades. Kaua fired more than 17 shots from a semi-automatic assault rifle and left thousands of Pearl City residents stranded for hours while police attempted to negotiate with him.

Kaua was captured after he was shot by a police sharpshooter.

Kaua was charged with first-degree attempted murder, but a jury convicted him of the lesser attempted manslaughter charge, which carried a maximum 20-year prison term.

At sentencing, however, Ho-nolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle asked a Circuit Court judge to impose an extended term of life with the possibility of parole. Carlisle argued that Kaua was a multiple offender and that an enhanced sentence was necessary to protect the public.

Circuit Judge Wendell Huddy granted the motion and the sentence was upheld twice by the Hawai'i Supreme Court.

But Kaua, 37, took his case to federal court and in December 2004, U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway overturned the extended sentence. Mollway cited the U.S. Supreme Court's Apprendi ruling in 2000 that said juries, not judges, must determine factors that would increase sentences.

The city appealed Mollway's decision to the 9th Circuit, which yesterday upheld Mollway's ruling.

"The sentencing court's public protection finding, coupled with the finding of multiple felonies, exposed Kaua to a sentence greater than the jury's guilty verdict authorized," the appeals judges wrote.

Carlisle yesterday said his office will consider asking that the entire 9th Circuit rehear the case. He said he also will be looking at ways to get the case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The fight's gonna go on," he said.

If the appeals avenues fail, Carlisle said his office may take Kaua and other defendants before a jury and have them resentenced. He said prosecutors also could ask judges to impose consecutive sentences, rather than concurrent terms.

He estimated that there are about 100 people here who have received extended prison terms, but not all for murder or attempted-murder convictions.

"Very few of them were the major ones because our extended-term provisions apply not just to murder and attempted murder, it also applies to class A felonies, B felonies and C felonies. So we've got people who have done car theft cases who have extended terms. You take a five-year term and extend it to a 10-year term," Carlisle said.

He said the ruling will not change the fact that defendants such as Kaua, Shane Mark and Miti Maugaotega Jr. will still serve long prison terms.

Mark is serving a life term without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of Hono-lulu Police Officer Glen Gaspar in March 2003. Maugaotega received a similar sentence for the attempted murder of a Punchbowl man in June 2003 and other felony convictions.

"They're not going to be getting out of jail anytime soon, not the major ones," he said.

State Deputy Public Defender Susan Arnett said yesterday's 9th Circuit decision was a "welcome ruling," although it was not unexpected because her office believed the state Supreme Court failed to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's Apprendi ruling.

Arnett said, however, that she did not know how many cases will be affected by the ruling.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.