In December of 2012, 17-year old Client of Maui defense attorney Cary Virtue went on a wild three-day crime spree which included a series of robberies, brutal assaults, and a kidnapping, three days after being released from a juvenile detention facility. Client was charged with two counts of 1st degree robbery, two counts of 1st degree assault, one count of 1st degree burglary, one count of 2nd degree burglary, one count of 2nd degree assault, and three counts of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle. Bail was set at $1.5M for the crimes. In July 2014, Client was sentenced to consecutive prison terms totaling 60 years.
The crime spree began on Kaae Road in Waiehu on December 17th, when Client and a friend kidnapped a pizza delivery man, Corpuz. They didn’t have money to pay for the pizza so they beat Corpuz and drove him to a macadamia nut field on Malaihi Road. They left him there, driving Corpuz’s car back to Kaae Road to eat the pizza. After regaining consciousness, the man managed to crawl to a nearby home and call for help. He had bloody facial injuries with softball- and golf ball-sized lumps on his head. Client pleaded no contest to charges of kidnapping, second-degree robbery, second-degree assault and unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle.
The next day at Makena Beach during sunset, Client and his friends attacked a 63-year old man that came out of a portable toilet at the beach. They severally attacked him, causing a hemorrhage and broken nose. Client and his friends stole the man’s belongings and rental car. Client plead no contest to charges of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle.
In the afternoon of the next day, December 19th, Client and friends went to Wailuku Heights looking for a house to burglarize. They randomly chose a home with an open window and proceeded to burglarize the residence, filling a vehicle with the stolen items. The 83-year old owner of the residence, Daniel Rollins, who was in the garage at the time, came into the house and encountered Client and friends who then assaulted him. They beat him to the ground, beating him with a baseball bat and kicking him. The victim was found lying unresponsive on the kitchen floor. The teens fled in the victim’s car. Client plead no contest to charges of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle.
Criminal Defense Attorney, Cary Virtue, and First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Robert Rivera, came to an agreement with a plea bargain for Client. Under the plea agreement, Client, now 19 years old, couldn’t be sentenced to shorter prison terms as a youthful offender, even though he was 17 when the crimes occurred. Virtue asked that Client’s prison term be limited to 20 years, while Rivera argued for the maximum prison term amount of 30 years.
Judge Cardoza ordered that counts in each case be served consecutively for the total of 60 years, instead of the maximum of 90 years, with the chance for Client to take advantage of programs while incarcerated. The parole board would then decide how much time in prison Client would actually need to serve.
Client turned to those in the gallery and said remorsefully, “I’m sorry to the families I hurt,” he said. “I’m not asking for forgiveness. I don’t expect it ’cause I had done wrong.”