Adrienne Sepaniak King

Adrienne Sepaniak King was born in Detroit, Michigan. She graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1965 and from the University of Detroit with a Bachelor of Science Degree B. S. (Biology major, Chemistry, minor) in 1969. She graduated from the University of Detroit Law School in 1972, having served on the Law Review as Articles Editor. She worked as one of the five original interns in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office under a grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), a U.S. federal agency within the U.S. Dept. of Justice. Notably, while at the Wayne County office, she worked under Patricia Boyle, who later was appointed a Federal District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan and subsequently became a Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. With the creation under the Nixon administration of the Environmental Protection Agency and Act, Adrienne was looking to expand her horizons. She was solicited to volunteer as an intern for Life of the Land, the only environmental group in Hawaii at the time. Life of the Land valued the combination of Adrienne’s Bachelor of Science with her Juris Doctor Degree. Two weeks after having graduated from the University of Detroit Law School, in May 1972, she was here on the island working out of Life of the Land’s original office on Waimanu St., while studying for the bar exam, which she passed in September. In October, Prosecuting Attorney Barry Chung, in Mayor Frank Fasi’s administration, hired her, only the third woman in the office at the time. From 1973 to 1976, Adrienne handled cases, from traffic infractions to hundreds of felonies. She tried over 30 jury trials to verdict with a 74% conviction rate. She was the first woman to try a murder case in Hawaii, securing a conviction to First Degree Murder. In late 1974, she was specially assigned to prosecute Elizabeth Greenwell, of a very prominent Big Island family, for shooting a homeless wom