LIHU‘E — A 26-year-old man already considered by prosecutors to be a career criminal was given a five-year sentence Tuesday for selling $200 worth of ice to an undercover police officer in the parking lot of the Kapa‘a Elementary School.
LIHU‘E — A 26-year-old man already considered by prosecutors to be a career criminal was given a five-year sentence Tuesday for selling $200 worth of ice to an undercover police officer in the parking lot of the Kapa‘a Elementary School.
“We hope that this will be a wake-up call for this defendant,” but his past is haunting him, County Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho said of Dustin McNamara, who will serve a minimum of 20 months after being sentenced by 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe.
“You are considered to be a repeat offender, so I have no choice,” said Watanabe of the mandatory sentencing, adding that McNamara was in the Hawai‘i Youth Correctional Facility as a minor and didn’t change his criminal ways.
“Unfortunately, all of that was not enough for you. What you have to do now is do good time and learn from this,” said Watanabe.
“A lot of it is going to depend on you doing good time.”
John Calma, state deputy public defender representing McNamara in the drug case, said McNamara was being sentenced for a class C felony occurring within five years of another conviction.
In January 2008, Kaua‘i Police Department officers instituted an undercover drug operation involving vice officers from the Big Island. The sale occurred at around 6 p.m. on a school day, when teachers and students were still present, Iseri-Carvalho said.
At that time, McNamara was living in his truck and using drugs, said Calma.
“He is remorseful,” Calma said.
“I did live in my truck” for over a year, McNamara said.
Every time he did anything against the law he got into trouble, so he doesn’t break the law now, said McNamara.
“I don’t have very many friends,” and his best friend is his wife, he said. “I shouldn’t have done that. I know it was wrong,” he said.
“I know what it’s like to have nothing,” and he keeps going with things he has learned, he said.
Iseri-Carvalho said McNamara’s address to the court was “the most sincere speech” she has heard from a defendant.
“Maybe I just need some direction,” said Iseri-Carvalho, reading from McNamara’s written statement.
Originally, McNamara was charged with second-degree methamphetamine trafficking, a class B felony defined as distribution of any amount of methamphetamine. In a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to the class C felony of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.
McNamara’s sentence on drug charges was his second in recent weeks. Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano on Tuesday sentenced McNamara to a year in prison for driving without a license, with that sentence to run concurrent to the drug sentence.
McNamara admitted to knowingly driving without a license, with Dena Renti Cruz, state deputy public defender, saying his girlfriend was the driver of the vehicle initially, but her medications were making it dangerous for her to continue driving so they switched.
“I don’t plan on driving until I have a license. I’ll make better choices,” said McNamara, this time in front of Valenciano.
The problem is that McNamara has continued driving without a license, Valenciano said, adding that McNamara has two other charges of driving without a license in the last five years. “You gotta get a license. You have to get a license. There’s no other way around it,” Valenciano said.
