Chong sentenced Life for a life.
to life in
mainland prison
He originally faced death for
murdering a father of 6 over
a $100 drug debt in 1997By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.comThat is the prison sentence Richard Lee Tuck Chong was given yesterday for using a firearm to shoot another man to death almost four years ago over a $100 drug-related debt.
It was agreed to by government prosecutors and his defense attorneys in a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.
U.S. District Judge Alan Kay acknowledged yesterday that Chong had led a difficult life -- most of it behind bars. But he said Chong must be punished for taking the life of William Noa Jr. by paying with his own life.
Federal authorities tried Chong because the murder involved a drug-trafficking case and local law enforcement officials wanted a stiffer sentence for him. Former U.S. Attorney Steve Alm had sought the death penalty because the murder was committed with another crime, Chong's long criminal record and the manner of the murder.
Chong, 50, who suffers from various ailments, will be sent to a maximum-security facility on the mainland where he will spend the rest of his life.
The sentencing ends a 4-year-old case that could have been the first death penalty trial in Hawaii since 1957.
Chong avoided the death penalty by agreeing to plead guilty to premeditated murder -- using a firearm in a drug-related slaying -- less than a week before he was to stand trial in January 2000.
But just days before his July 2000 sentencing, he asked to withdraw his plea so he could go to trial. He maintained he did not shoot Noa with premeditation. He claimed the medication he had been taking had affected his ability to think clearly.
Kay denied the request, finding that Chong clearly understood what he had pleaded to and that he did so intelligently and voluntarily.
Chong admits he shot Noa, 33, but did so because he feared for his safety.
In court yesterday, Chong apologized to Noa's family.
"I hope you guys no have to carry hate against me -- I never do it purposefully," he said.
He concluded by saying, "I hope you guys be all right."
But Raynette Oliva, the mother of Noa's six children, said their lives have not been the same since.
The children, ranging from 3 to 10 years old, sat in a front row of the courtroom and sobbed as Oliva tried to explain the pain and anger they have felt since their father was killed.
Oliva said they still ask, "When is he coming home?" "Why did this man do this to Daddy?"
Even the 3-year-old daughter, who was born a month after Noa was killed, asks when he will return, Oliva said.
Noa's family members say Chong's apologies are not sincere. What Chong did was "pure evil," said Lezlie St. Germain, Noa's sister.
She noted Chong showed his lack of remorse when he sought to withdraw his guilty plea.
"We're glad he's going away. He doesn't deserve to be on this island with friends. We want him to suffer because we've suffered."
Defense attorney Marcia Morrissey tried to show the judge a different side of Chong.
He was born to an abusive father who had a history of psychiatric disorder and a mother who only saw her children on weekends because she worked in Honolulu.
By the time he was 8, Chong had been made a ward of juvenile court and sent to an Army facility for "throwaway kids" where he was given strong antipsychotic drugs, assaulted by his fellow inmates and undernourished, Morrissey said.
Children who survived the facility and are now grown have told horror stories about what it was like there.
"Growing up in a virtual gulag, the fact that he survived at all is a small miracle," said deputy public defender Michael Weight.
Chong was later sent to the Koolau boy's home until age 17. Before he turned 18, he was committed to the adult state prison, becoming the youngest inmate ever admitted.