A 42-year-old Pahoa man who threatened to burn down the home he lived in during a domestic dispute last year pleaded guilty Monday to first-degree terroristic threatening.
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped an attempted third-degree arson charge against Robert Kanani Armitage Jr., who was ordered to appear for sentencing at 9 a.m. April 7.
According to the plea agreement, Armitage is to receive a four-year probation sentence and 45 days in jail with credit for time served when he is sentenced by Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara in April.
First-degree terroristic threatening is a Class C felony that carries a possible five-year prison term upon conviction.
According to court documents, Armitage was arguing with his live-in girlfriend, Nami Kekaualua, on Sept. 3, when he poured gasoline inside the house they shared on Kahokumaka Loop near the Makuu Farmers Market in Hawaiian Paradise Park.
“I got into one fight and I said some stuff that I shouldn’t have said,” Armitage told the judge.
Asked by Hara what he said, Armitage replied, “That I would hit her and I would burn down the house.”
“And when you made the threat, were you holding anything?” the judge asked.
“A gas can,” Armitage replied.
“In addition to that, there was a lighter found in his pocket when he was arrested,” Deputy Prosecutor Michelle West told the court.
Armitage, a truck driver who has no prior felony convictions, will ask the court to defer acceptance of his guilty plea. If granted, the deferral would erase Armitage’s felony conviction from his record if he completes probation without any further trouble with the law.
Armitage is free on $20,000 bail.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com
