Judge gives Sua 10 years
for threats, says he is not
beyond rehabilitation

By Crystal Kua
Star-Bulletin

Robert Sua says his suicide wish that nearly came true on Feb. 6, 1997, has turned out to be his saving grace and his incentive for not taking life for granted anymore.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario yesterday also recognized the potential in Sua to change, while sentencing him to a 10-year prison term for threatening five police officers last year and recklessly endangering another.

"The court does not believe that the defendant is beyond rehabilitation," Del Rosario said.

Sua, 21, the youngest of a group of notorious brothers, originally was charged with attempted first-degree murder and five counts of first-degree terroristic threatening.

The charges stem from a police response to Sua's home in Waipahu, where he allegedly had been drinking and arguing with neighbors.

The officers said Sua charged at them with a knife in each hand yelling, "Shoot me, shoot me," and threatening to "shoot a cop" if they didn't.

Sua also was accused of trying to stab one of the officers after the officer shot him at least four times, resulting in the attempted first-degree murder charge, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

But Sua has said he wanted to die that night and was trying to get police to shoot him. He had no intention of hurting the officers, he said.

Instead of attempted murder, a Circuit Court jury in July found him guilty of second-degree reckless endangering, a misdemeanor. The jury also found him guilty of the five felony threatening charges, punishable by up to five years in prison.

"When I got shot I felt my life draining away from me as I laid still on Farrington Highway," Sua wrote in a letter to Del Rosario. "And I thought I was dead."

But when he woke up two days later in the hospital, the people around him told him that the reason he lived was because God has plans for him.

"My whole life has changed a whole lot since I've been shot," he wrote the judge. "I plan to take advantage of this second chance at life God has given me."

Deputy Prosecutor Jean Ireton said the crimes committed by Sua, whose criminal record dates back to the age of 11, have increased in severity and frequency over the years.

"He doesn't seem to get the message ... He needs to be incarcerated for a long time," she said.

Del Rosario said the public does need protection, but he believes Sua can turn his life around.

The judge granted Ireton's request for a 10-year term for the felonies. But he ordered the time be served concurrently -- instead of consecutively, which Ireton had requested -- with a current 10-year term that Sua is serving for a separate assault.

Sua was on parole for that assault conviction at the time he was shot.

Deputy Public Defender David Hayakawa said he believes Sua would serve another five to six years before he's paroled. The attorney said he's going to request that Sua be placed in a "boot camp," away from the influences of his brothers.

"He is much different than his brothers," Hayakawa said outside of court. "He's the baby of the family but he's a lot softer, more sensitive individual than his brothers are."

Sua's father, Etuale, said he and his wife, who was crying afterward, were hoping for less time behind bars for their son.

"I would like to see him get freed," he said.