Man back in prison
By Debra Barayuga
for beating his mother
Star-BulletinA man who killed his brother has been sent back to prison for severely beating his 60-year-old mother and assaulting a prison guard.
Circuit Judge Melvin Soong yesterday resentenced Hyong Keun O to 10 years in prison for violation of probation for manslaughter in his brother's death and an extended sentence of 20 years (mandatory minimum of three years and four months) for attempted first-degree assault on his mother.
Soong granted the extended sentence under a statute requiring tougher prison terms for people who inflict serious, substantial bodily injury on elders, ages 60 and older.
O, 32, also received a five-year term for second-degree assault on a prison guard (mandatory minimum of one year and eight months). The prison sentences all will be served concurrently.
"My client is sorry for what has happened," said deputy public defender Ray Fukuhara, who objected to the extended term of imprisonment.
Fukuhara argued that sentencing O as a repeat offender to the 10-year sentence for the manslaughter and deportation to South Korea is sufficient punishment.
O was convicted in 1993 in the death of his brother, a Vietnam veteran who was paralyzed and in a wheelchair because of a war injury.
The two were fighting when O punched his brother in the stomach. His brother died of a ruptured spleen. O received five years probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
He was on probation when he was arrested last October for assaulting his mother. He later was involved in two separate assaults against a prison guard and inmate while in prison last year. He was convicted only in the assault of the corrections officer.
O yesterday apologized for his actions and sought the court's mercy. He said he wasn't in the right state of mind when he committed the offenses.
But Soong said he was concerned about O's violent behavior toward family members.
"If you exhibit this type of behavior with family, and your mother of all people -- what about people you don't know or care about?" Soong said.
It took four police officers to restrain O when he was arrested in his mother's assault, Soong noted.
O's mother, 60 at the time, was critically injured in the beating.
Besides breaking ribs, her wrists and teeth, O's mother suffered cuts to her face, ruptured an eardrum, bruised her kidney, and suffered bruises all over her body, said Deputy Prosecutor Lynne McGivern.
"She was flying around the apartment and bleeding everywhere," McGivern said.
She underwent plastic surgery which successfully hid the scars she suffered.
It wasn't the first time O had beat her. His mother suffered similar injuries in 1992 but she refused to cooperate with investigators and left the state, she said.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service should have deported O after his conviction on manslaughter, McGivern said.
Immigration officials told prosecutors that O apparently "fell through the cracks" and they have since sought to deport O to Korea. Immigration officials could not be reached for comment.
