25-year minimum term set for shooter in 2 killings
The Hawaii Paroling Authority has set a 25-year minimum sentence for a 25-year-old man convicted in two separate drug-related killings in 2003. Micah Kanahele received 20 years in prison when Circuit Judge Michael Town sentenced him in February for the shooting deaths of Greg Morishima and Guylan Nuuhiwa.
Kanahele had gone to trial for murder twice last year in the Morishima shooting, with the first time resulting in a hung jury. At the second trial, Kanahele was convicted of a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Before he was sentenced in the Morishima case, Kanahele reached a deal with prosecutors in which he would plead no contest to the Nuuhiwa murder and serve 20 years for both killings.
Under the agreement, Kanahele could later withdraw his plea in the Nuuhiwa case and go to trial if the parole board ordered him to serve more than the 20 years. Kanahele, after questioning by the court, waived his right Wednesday to withdraw his plea.
Morishima was shot in the carport of a friend's Aiea home on Oct. 26, 2003, by four masked gunmen. Charges were dismissed against the other three gunmen after juries could not reach unanimous verdicts as to their roles.
Less than a week after the Morishima shooting, Kanahele shot Nuuhiwa in the parking lot of Longs Drugs in Pearl City Shopping Center after he allegedly refused to lower the price of marijuana to $1,480 from $1,600.