10-year sentence in Puna burglary

A brother of two men who died while in police custody was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for his role in a Puna burglary in August.

Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura handed down the sentence to 46-year-old John Hatori of Hilo.

Hatori is the brother of Randall Hatori, who died at 39 while struggling with officers attempting to subdue him during an arrest in Kailua-Kona on Feb. 4, 2014, and Clarence Hatori, a 38-year-old man who collapsed June 15, 2016, in the Hilo police cellblock and died 15 days later while on life support at Hilo Medical Center.

Randall Hatori was tasered during his encounter with police, but a medical examiner ruled that wasn’t a factor in his death — although his death was ruled a homicide by medical definition, not in the legal sense. Foul play was ruled out in an autopsy of Clarence Hatori, who, when he died, had a lawsuit pending against county and police alleging his brother’s death was the result of excessive force.

John Hatori and another man, 52-year-old Derek Fa Sin Liu of Honokaa, broke into an Ainaloa home on Aug. 7 and stole personal items. The burglary was caught on video, and Hatori pleaded no contest to the charge, plus unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, drug and paraphernalia charges on April 27.

Liu was sentenced in March to 10 years in prison. While out on bail, Liu staged his own disappearance in December while the subject of a wanted bulletin by police, putting a 12-foot Zodiac inflatable boat about a mile at sea off the Kohala Coast and leaving his pickup truck and trailer unattended at the Kawaihae boat ramp.

An extensive search-and-rescue mission was launched involving county helicopters plus a Coast Guard helicopter and cutter.

Nakamura allowed John Hatori, who is free on supervised release, a week to get his affairs in order before reporting for incarceration.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.