WAILUKU — Saying a shorter jail term wouldn’t reflect “the viciousness of the attack,” a judge Friday sentenced a Paia man to a 10-year prison term for an assault that left another man with “catastrophic injuries.”

Troy Borge Jr., 30, remained free, pending a court hearing June 23 on a defense request to allow him to stay out of custody while his case is appealed.

“The circumstances of this case reflects a brutal crime,” 2nd Circuit Judge Kelsey Kawano said in imposing the sentence.

Borge was indicted on a charge of attempted second-degree murder before he pleaded no contest in December to a reduced charge of first-degree assault in the beating of Briar Lee Brossart, who is also known as Rabbit.

The attack occurred at about 10:30 p.m. Nov. 5, 2019, near Paia Youth & Cultural Center.

A witness described seeing Borge holding a wooden stick or club and hitting Brossart once to cause him to fall on his knees, Deputy Prosecutor Mike Kagami said. “He was no longer a danger” when he was hit a second time and fell back, Kagami said when the sentencing hearing began May 21.

Brossart’s injuries included “a brain bleed, numerous cuts about the head and face and numerous fractures to the head and face area,” Kagami said.

“It’s not your ordinary assault,” he said in arguing for Borge to be sentenced to prison. “This is probably the worst one without someone dying.”

Appearing by videoconference from North Dakota for the hearing last month, Colleen Brossart said, “Briar’s lucky to be alive.”

She said her son’s head was bashed in, and he was in a coma for 17 days and in the hospital intensive care unit for 30 days.

After being in and out of the hospital for a year and a half, the 27-year-old lives in a long-term nursing home and is unable to speak except to say yes and no, his mother said. She said he can walk but has trouble lifting one arm because of a stroke.

“Troy’s changed Briar’s life forever,” she said. “He will never be able to drive again. He will never be able to get married, have children, have a job.

“He will probably always be living in a long-term care facility, and we will probably never regain the Briar that we knew that night that Troy took him away from us.”

“You took a person who was perfectly willing to work,” said his father, Terry Brossart, also appearing by videoconference. “He wasn’t a burden on society and now for the rest of his life, he will be a burden on society.”

Defense attorney Hayden Aluli asked for Borge to be placed on probation.

He said Borge has no criminal record.

Since he was released on supervision in July, Borge has been involved in outpatient drug treatment, Aluli said.

“He is really doing well,” Aluli said. “He’s going to change his life from a homeless addicted community out in Paia to really strive to be a contributing member of society.”

Aluli said Borge’s girlfriend and another witness described Brossart as being “aggressive” toward Borge that night.

Speaking in court Friday, Borge said Brossart was “full of rage and moving towards my fiancee with his fist clenched and raised in the air.”

Borge said he was protecting her.

“I really never meant to cause such extreme injuries to Rabbit, and for that I couldn’t be more sorry,” he said. “I knew how strong he is and I was truly scared, not just for my fiancee’s safety but my safety as well.”

Judge Kawano said Borge “exercised a significant lack of control” when he “clubbed” Brossart, who was hit in the head from the back to cause him to fall first on his knees, then onto the ground.

“Then you continued to club him” and hit him two more times in the face, Kawano said to Borge.

Brossart has “catastrophic injuries,” suffering brain damage, seizures and strokes, Kawano said.

“The victim in this case, Mr. Brossart, has been reduced to a giggling dullard, an imbecile,” Kawano said. “I don’t say that to insult him. I say that just to have you know that his life has been destroyed. He’s barely capable of responding to just yes or no questions.”

After seeing a video clip last month of Brossart with relatives in North Dakota, “it gave the court pause to wonder what Mr. Brossart would have been giggling about that he would find so amusing,” Kawano said.

“All I can think is his brain damage does not allow him the wherewithal to realize the change of circumstances that this incident has brought to his life,” the judge said.

Kawano said there was no “understandable justification” for Borge’s actions.

Instead of prison, Borge could have been sentenced to an 18-month jail term as part of four years’ probation.

“An 18-month term of jail just does not adequately reflect the viciousness of the attack or the seriousness of the crime,” Kawano said. “It does not do justice to the victim or the victim’s family.”

He said the shorter jail sentence also “would give a signal to the community that such actions would be tolerated. They are not.”

Borge was ordered to pay $1,461,444 in restitution, based on Maui Memorial Medical Center bills.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.