IN COURT

Killer faces more time
for furlough violations

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

A convicted murderer nearing the completion of his 20-year sentence will not be released any time soon.

Keith Brezee, 39, faces at least five years for getting arrested while on a work furlough program.

Yesterday, Brezee pleaded no contest to breaking into a car March 7 while on a pass from the Laumaka Work Furlough Center and punching the owner several times.

He also pleaded no contest to a felony escape charge for failing to return to the Kalihi facility by a 9 p.m. curfew. He was arrested that night at Aala Park during a park closure sweep.

Brezee faces two five-year terms and a possible $10,000 fine when he is sentenced Oct. 27 before Judge Wilfred Watanabe.

Brezee was on a pass from Laumaka when he went to the home of an ex-co-worker and asked her to go drinking with him, said Deputy Prosecutor Barry Kemp.

He left after she refused but later returned and became upset at her father. Brezee allegedly punched the woman's father, followed him into his car and punched him repeatedly until his ex-co-worker intervened. Program rules also require Laumaka inmates to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

Brezee had been behind bars since he was sentenced in February 1981 for the October 1976 attempted rape and murder of Kailua High classmate Sandra Damas, 15.

Damas, whose body was found on the grounds of Salt Lake Elementary, died of a ruptured heart.

Brezee, 16 at the time, went to trial four years after her death claiming she was his girlfriend and didn't mean to kill her.

He said he had taken drugs and was drunk that night and had punched her after she began hitting him and threw dirt in his face. She was angry at him for messing around with other girls, he testified. Witnesses, however, said Brezee had met with Damas to have sex with her, and that he beat her to death when she resisted.

Inmates who qualify for community custody if they are within 24 months of their parole eligibility date, have completed required programming such as drug or sex offender treatment, and behave well in prison are eligible to enter Laumaka.

While at Laumaka, inmates are allowed to leave the facility on passes to find jobs, work, participate in community service work lines, or return for limited periods to their families.

Violation of their contracts could result in being returned to Halawa. Any arrest makes an inmate automatically ineligible for the Laumaka program.