A 29-year-old Mountain View woman was sentenced Thursday to four years probation for a daylight knifepoint carjacking almost a year ago in downtown Hilo. ADVERTISING A 29-year-old Mountain View woman was sentenced Thursday to four years probation for a daylight
A 29-year-old Mountain View woman was sentenced Thursday to four years probation for a daylight knifepoint carjacking almost a year ago in downtown Hilo.
Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara also sentenced Ashley Leialoha Hamada to 18 months in jail with six months of the jail sentence suspended as long as she gets into no further trouble with the law. Hamada has been incarcerated for almost a year, so with credit for time served, she’ll be released from Hawaii Community Correctional Center in two weeks.
In a deal with prosecutors, Hamada pleaded no contest on June 29 to second-degree robbery, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment. She was originally charged with first-degree robbery, a Class A felony punishable by up to 20 years incarceration, and second-degree theft, a Class C felony punishable by up to five years behind bars. Stanton Oshiro, Hamada’s court-appointed attorney, told the judge he’s “confident Miss Hamada can make it on probation so long as she avoids the kinds of things that trigger substance abuse.”
“She has issues, but they’re very well-managed,” he said. “She just needs to keep her nose to the grindstone, so to speak.
“I’ve told Miss Hamada that her current predicament doesn’t tolerate much error. She’s looking at a mandatory minimum (prison term) if she commits another felony.”
Hamada reportedly brandished a box-cutter knife and stole a car on Kamehameha Avenue near Furneaux Lane at 4:35 p.m. Aug. 29, 2014, after its owner, a 22-year-old Mililani, Oahu, man refused her request for a ride. The man was reportedly uninjured.
Hamada was alone in the 1998 Toyota Corolla when she was pulled over in a traffic stop at Umauma Bridge at the 16-mile marker on Hawaii Belt Road.
Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville noted that Hamada, who has children, also has racked up several traffic violations since 2012, which includes driving without insurance, no current safety check or license plate, using an electronic device while driving and a child restraint violation. A so-called “stopper” was put on Hamada’s driver’s license in 2013 for nonpayment of traffic fines.
“Miss Hamada needs to know that every time she gets behind the wheel of a car, that car doesn’t have insurance, she doesn’t have her kids in seat belts, and she’s talking on the phone, and she’s doing drugs, she’s putting her life at risk, she’s putting her children’s lives at risk,” Damerville said. “So, you’re on probation this time, there’s gonna be somebody watching. Not just a probation officer. You can’t do drugs and drive without a license; you can’t do drugs and drive without insurance. You can’t do drugs without strapping in your kids, because somebody’s gonna die. And it’s not gonna happen on my watch if I can stop it.
“So if you need to go to prison because you can’t obey the laws, you’ll be there soon.”
When the carjacking occurred, Hamada was on probation after being convicted in March 2012 for credit card theft. Her probation in that case was restarted and will run concurrently with the probation in the carjacking case.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
