The Maui News

WAILUKU — While acknowledging a man’s current “positive life-changing path,” a judge said the defendant needed to be held accountable for his crimes, sentencing him to 10 years in prison for a series of arrests with drugs, stolen vehicles and ammunition.

Shaun Dennis, 35, said he accepted the sentence.

“I have no excuse. I don’t blame nobody,” he said in court as he was sentenced Sept. 29. “I made every choice and I live with it. I’m just tired of this and I’m working really hard.”

In three criminal cases, Dennis had pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, three counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, habitual property crime, two counts of prohibited possession of firearm ammunition and resisting arrest. Other charges were dismissed in exchange for his pleas.

As part of a plea agreement between the defense and prosecution, Dennis agreed to a prison sentence. While he asked for concurrent sentencing of 10 years, the prosecution sought consecutive sentences totaling 20 years.

Dennis has prior convictions, dating to 2006, for crimes including unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, first- and second-degree criminal property damage, resisting an order to stop a motor vehicle, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, fleeing the scene of a collision, unauthorized entry into a dwelling and violating an order for protection, said Deputy Prosecutor Joanne Hicks.

She said Dennis had been given chances on probation in the past but hadn’t been successful. “He has a long criminal history of continuing to offend — and the same type of offenses,” she said.

She said it was troubling that Dennis’ recent crimes seemed to involve drug distribution.

In September 2017, police found him sleeping in the driver’s seat of a vehicle in the parking lot of Casanova’s in Makawao. The license plates had been changed on the vehicle, which had been reported stolen three months earlier, Hicks said. She said police obtained a search warrant and recovered 5.3 grams of methamphetamine, smoking pipes, 16.62 grams of marijuana and $3,713 in cash, “which is indicative of drug dealing.”

In a March 2019 case, police recovered nearly 2 pounds of methamphetamine after executing a search warrant at Dennis’ residence on Waiehu Beach Road, Hicks said. She said Dennis asked to go to the bathroom during the search and was handcuffed when he jumped out a 4-foot-high window and shattered it, then ran and stole a truck. Police apprehended Dennis a few hours later at a family member’s residence in Kahului.

In another arrest in January 2019, police seized methamphetamine and bullets while executing search warrants on Dennis’ vehicle and a bedroom he shared with a co-defendant at a residence in Pukalani, Hicks said.

In arguing to limit Dennis’ prison sentence to 10 years, defense attorneys said Dennis had been grieving the death of his 6-year-old son, Ehukai, in a dirt bike accident in 2014 at Eddie Tam Memorial Park in Makawao.

“There’s no question that he feels a sense of guilt and the substance use has been a way to ignore and mask that trauma,” said Deputy Public Defender Tyler Stevenson. “It spiraled out of control. Everything did come to a head in 2019 when he was arrested. He was forced to face these problems head on.”

While incarcerated after being arrested, Dennis had participated in support groups and in men’s mentoring to the point where he became a mentor, Stevenson said.

“We started to see the regrowth in one of the most challenging places to do that, and that’s the correctional facility,” he said.

Defense attorney Gina Gormley said Dennis had reached a place of acceptance.

“He’s now forgiven himself for what happened,” Gormley said. “He’s no longer angry with the world. Now he’s able to move on.”

Hicks said others were affected by the defendant’s crimes, including police officers who were “placed in scary, dangerous situations” and families of those who become addicted to drugs.

“There are victims on the other side that experience great trauma and grief,” she said.

In sentencing Dennis to concurrent prison terms, 2nd Circuit Judge Blaine Kobayashi said he was moved by the defendant’s letter to the court “because it is very clear to the court that you are definitely not the same person today that you were when all of these things were happening.”

Kobayashi said the letter contained “no excuses, no finger pointing, no blaming others.”

“That is huge and that is admirable,” he said.

He said others also wrote letters about how they had seen the change in Dennis.

Kobayashi noted that Dennis acknowledged he needed to be held accountable for his crimes and acknowledged the multiple opportunities he had been given.

“It is the heartfelt hope for the court that after you have served your time, that you will continue on this positive path,” the judge told Dennis. “I do see that positive life-changing path that you have been walking while incarcerated.

“Honor the life and memory of your son Ehukai by making and continuing to make the positive changes you have been making. It’s not going to be easy. It’s never too late to turn things around.”

The Hawaii Paroling Authority will determine how much time Dennis serves before he is released.