Fifth Circuit Court cases from July 12: – Ernette Damasco was in Judge Clifford Nakea’s courtroom last Thursday to be sentenced on five felony counts of forgery. The charges were the result of a plea bargaining agreement; Damasco was initially
Fifth Circuit Court cases from July 12:
– Ernette Damasco was in Judge Clifford Nakea’s courtroom last Thursday to be sentenced on five felony counts of forgery. The charges were the result of a plea bargaining agreement; Damasco was initially charged with three times the forgeries than she eventually pleaded no-contest to.
Damasco “knows she is not eligible for probation,” her attorney, deputy public defender James Itamura, said. “She has lost a lot. She has lost all her property and her marriage. She’s at the very bottom.”
Because of those circumstances, Itamura asked the judge to sentence Damasco concurrently, instead of consecutively. Concurrent sentencing basically combines the multiple offenses into one sentence. Consecutive sentences would force Damasco to serve all the counts separately, which would result in more prison time.
The prosecution, however, asked for consecutive sentencing.
“She forged stolen checks. In a 1998 case, she did the same thing,’ said Craig de Costa, Kaua’i County’s chief deputy prosecutor.
Nakea halved the attorneys’ requests, telling the defendant, “You’ve had many opportunities. To allow concurrent sentencing would be in a sense rewarding you for violating probation.”
Damasco was on probation on two counts of forgery stemming from her 1998 conviction when she went on a check-forgery spree earlier this year, according to authorities.
Nakea sentenced Damasco concurrently for the new offenses but consecutively to the two 1998 forgeries. She received five years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 20 months.
Damasco must complete her current sentence before starting to serve time on the newer offenses.
Compiled by staff writer Dennis Wilken.
