Man sentenced in domestic abuse case

LIHUE — A Kapaa man who pleaded no contest to domestic abuse charges last year was released from custody Monday after a judge handed down a jail sentence equivalent to time served.

Shawn Parraga, 38, pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count — reduced from a class C felony charge — for allegedly physically abusing a woman who lived in his home in June.

The original felony count, according to charging documents, alleged that Parraga abused a family household member by intentionally “impeding the normal breathing of the woman “by applying pressure on her throat or neck.”

The scene in Kauai’s Fifth Circuit Court Monday was a familiar one for Parraga. Among prior offenses on Parraga’s criminal record are four previous convictions for domestic abuse, according to the county prosecutor’s plea offer.

Parraga faced a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine but was given credit for jail-time served. Kauai County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said Parraga was in custody for about two months while awaiting court proceedings and fined $255. He will also have to serve two years probation and attend a domestic violence intervention program.

The Fifth Circuit Court’s online database shows that Parraga was given 100 hours of community service for abusing a member of his household in 2006. He pleaded no contest to the same charge less than two years later, this time serving a four-day jail term.

Parraga was arraigned again on domestic abuse charges in 2009 and 2012, each time pleading no contest to reduced or modified charges and serving jail sentences of one year and 45 days respectively.

Kollar said Monday that the prosecuting attorney’s office decided to offer Parraga a relatively lenient plea deal because there was little chance he would be convicted if the case went to trial.

Parraga’s alleged abuse victim was his “long time on again/off again girlfriend,” according to Kollar, who said the woman decided not to cooperate with prosecutors and declined to press charges.

“If she’s not going to show up, we’re going to have a pretty hard time,” Kollar said, speculating that woman probably wouldn’t testify against Parraga even if issued a subpoena.

Parraga was also sentenced on Monday in a different case related to an alleged car theft in 2017. In that case, prosecutors dropped auto theft and resisting arrest charges in exchange for Parraga agreeing to plea no contest to assaulting two Kauai police officers and causing criminal property damage.

Parraga was also given credit for jail time served in the 2017 case and fined $240.