Max. penalty for
armed robber, 16

Prosecutors sought to try him
as an adult and open his
waiver hearing

By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin

An armed 16-year-old boy who broke into a Palolo home and participated in a plan to bind and rob its two owners will remain in the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility until age 19.

Senior Family Court Judge Michael Town sentenced Van Duc Duong, a Kaimuki High School student charged with five felonies in the July 13 incident, to the facility for the maximum juvenile term after he admitted to all robbery, kidnapping and burglary charges.

The Star-Bulletin obtained the information under a new law that allows public access to legal records of juveniles 14 and older, depending on the crime and previous offenses.

Town had rejected a prosecution motion to try Duong as an adult and to open his waiver hearing, based on a different part of the new law to allow public access to proceedings of some juveniles 16 and older.

He argued that Duong didn't fit any of the four criteria, which include a murder or attempted-murder charge, serious bodily injury to the victim and prior felony convictions.

But once Town judged Duong a law violator of five felonies, his records became open.

It was the first case the state brought under the law, passed to boost public confidence in the justice system, maintain public safety and send the message that the state will treat youth offenses seriously.

Richard Kawana, Duong's attorney, said Town was right to close the waiver hearing and to try Duong as a juvenile.

"Waiving a juvenile is always a drastic situation," he said.

"You're putting kids into an adult system where they can end up being a victim."

He declined to discuss details of the case because his role in it continues to remain confidential under Family Court rules. But he said his client "wants to get his life together and get back into society as a contributing member."

First Deputy Prosecutor Iwalani White said she didn't consider Duong's sentence satisfactory based on his actions to the couple.

White, a former Family Court judge, said the court should have tried him by adult standards and sentenced him accordingly. The offenses carry 20-year terms, and an adult probably would have served seven to 10 years, she said.

Duong's records include statements by the victims, Richard and Mincha Cardoza.

Cardoza, 61, said three youths rushed into their home about 3 p.m., each wielding a gun. He said he was told to lie face down while two ran to a bedroom where his wife was watching television.

He said one returned and bound his hands and feet with telephone cord while the one holding a gun to his head demanded money and jewelry. He said the same one took $160 and a bank card from his wallet and a jade ring and watch he wore.

Cardoza also said one youth stuffed a sandwich in his mouth and covered him with a couch pillow.

Mincha Cardoza, 53, said one male stuffed white socks in her mouth and tied her hands behind her back. She said she spit out the socks, but that the robber tied a shirt around her mouth.

"I thought they were going to kill me and my husband," she said.

She identified Duong as the male who told the other two males to tie her up.

According to the Judicial Determination of Probable Cause document, Duong was the one who held a gun to Richard Cardoza's head, tied him up, stuffed a sandwich in his mouth and demanded items.

According to Duong's legal records, Duong had five arrests and eight charges from 1992 to 1996.

He was arrested three times for running away, once for violating curfew, once for forgery and three times for theft or attempted theft. White said the charges "were nothing to get excited about" but that they suggested that the teen had been out of his parents' control for five years.

She said police, prosecutors and Family Court probably tried to get him into diversion programs to avoid prosecution and labeling him.

"They probably tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it didn't work," she said.

In arguing for an open waiver hearing, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joe Lee had said the juvenile's alleged offense could have resulted in serious bodily injury.

But Town said the law required that the offense had to have caused a serious injury.