LIHU‘E — The potential jurors had assembled (most of them anyway), and most were prepared Tuesday for a jury trial. When scheduling the trial, Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano asked for a doubling of the number of potential jurors in
LIHU‘E — The potential jurors had assembled (most of them anyway), and most were prepared Tuesday for a jury trial.
When scheduling the trial, Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano asked for a doubling of the number of potential jurors in the high-profile case of Le Beau Lagmay, 26, of Kapa‘a.
Then Lagmay, through state Deputy Public Defender Edmund Acoba, changed his not-guilty pleas to guilty to lesser charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced before Valenciano at 8 a.m. on Aug. 19.
The mixed-martial-arts fighter and construction worker was originally charged with 18 crimes, including 11 counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, for allegedly threatening to kill or harm several Kaua‘i Police Department officers during his arrest in November in the parking lot of Wilcox Memorial Hospital.
Officer Eric Caspillo used his Taser on Lagmay three times, the first time when he refused Caspillo’s order for Lagmay to put his hands behind his back, the second time when Lagmay was on the ground and still refused to put his hands behind his back to allow handcuffing, and a third time when officers Paddy Ramson and Marnie Fernandez had difficulty getting Lagmay’s arms out from under Lagmay, who was lying face-down in the hospital parking lot, Caspillo said during a December 2009 hearing.
At the preliminary hearing before Fifth District Judge Trudy Senda, the number of charges was reduced to six: three counts of first-degree terroristic threatening, drunk driving, resisting an order to stop his vehicle and consuming or possessing intoxicating liquor while operating a motor vehicle.
On Tuesday, Lagmay pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of second-degree terroristic threatening and driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant.
The maximum prison sentence for a misdemeanor is one year.
Dismissed were charges of resisting an order to stop his vehicle and consuming or possessing intoxicating liquor while operating a motor vehicle.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Murphy represented the state.
Several potential jurors did not show up for their scheduled jury duty, and Valenciano ordered failure-to-appear letters sent to the eight Kauaians.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
