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WAILUKU – After attempted-murder charges were dismissed for a standoff in a Kahului neighborhood, a man was sentenced Thursday to a five-year prison term for assault and drug charges.
Erath Kaihewalu, 23, hadn’t taken advantage of a chance to be sentenced to probation in the 2013 assault case, voiding his plea agreement by later committing the drug offenses, said Deputy Prosecutor Emlyn Higa.
He recommended that Kaihewalu be sentenced to a five-year prison term for second-degree assault of a man struck with a rock through the driver’s window of his vehicle. Deputy Prosecutor Terence Herndon argued for consecutive five-year prison terms in the drug case.
In the February 2014 drug case, which occurred two months after Kaihewalu didn’t show up for his December 2013 assault sentencing, he was found with substantial amounts of methamphetamine, paraphernalia and other drugs, Herndon said.
“There was an effort to dispose of the drugs,” Herndon said.
Defense attorney Matthew Nardi asked that Kaihewalu be sentenced to concurrent five-year prison terms.
At the time of the offenses, Kaihewalu “was hanging out with the wrong people, making poor decisions and doing things he should not have been doing,” Nardi said.
Kaihewalu was indicted along with Josiah Okudara on multiple counts of attempted first-degree murder after shots were fired, allegedly toward police officers, during a 50-hour standoff that ended Aug. 12, 2011, at a residence on Opukea Street.
In September, Okudara, 26, was sentenced to prison terms totaling 30 years after pleading no contest to reduced charges. The prosecution dismissed the charges against Kaihewalu.
Nardi said Kaihewalu had spent nearly two years in jail while waiting for the attempted-murder case to be resolved.
He earned the equivalent of a high school diploma and wants to go to college to become a chef, Nardi said.
“Every day I think about what I did,” Kaihewalu said in court Thursday. “I just like one other chance for do right.”
Kaihewalu had pleaded no contest to second-degree assault for a May 2013 attack on a Kahului man who had driven a woman to the Piihana housing area when he was confronted by two men in a low-rider truck. The back passenger window of the car was shot. Police said Kaihewalu used a rock to hit the driver’s side window, striking the driver.
Kaihewalu also had pleaded no contest to third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and possessing drug paraphernalia. Other charges were dismissed in both cases in exchange for his pleas.
The convictions are Kaihewalu’s first for felony offenses, attorneys said.
Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill said that the concurrent sentencing was warranted, based on the final charges against Kaihewalu.
Although Kaihewalu wasn’t convicted of more serious charges, “it does indicate Mr. Kaihewalu was putting himself in really bad situations and now has got to pay the piper,” Cahill said.
While other defendants say they want drug treatment but end up back in court when they don’t follow through, Cahill said it was “refreshing” to read that Kaihewalu acknowledged he has a drug problem but said he isn’t ready for treatment.
Cahill said that if Kaihewalu isn’t willing to at least try drug treatment while incarcerated, it would affect how much time he spends in prison before being paroled.
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.