Convicted Mililani
rapist gets an
80-year minimum

James Thompson was sentenced
to 9 life terms for the
rape of 4 Mililani girls

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

A former prison guard accused in a series of highly publicized abductions and rapes in Mililani five years ago has been ordered to spend at least 80 years behind bars before he can ask to be paroled.

James Allen Thompson, 40, is on a list of minimum terms handed down by the Hawaii Paroling Authority in March and April.

Also on the list is convicted bank robber Albert Batalona, who was ordered to serve 20 years out of 20 for using a firearm in the commission of a felony and first-degree robbery.

Batalona is already serving a life term without parole for first-degree attempted murder for shooting at a police officer responding to the Kahala American Savings Bank robbery in July 1999.

Thompson, who maintained that police got the wrong guy, was convicted last October of 19 counts, including kidnapping and six counts of first-degree sexual assault.

It took three trials, two ending in mistrials, to find him guilty.

Thompson was accused of preying on five girls 14 to 16 and abducting four of them at knifepoint on separate occasions from January to September 1997.

One of the four managed to escape. He drove the other three to a remote pineapple field where he forced them to perform sexual acts.

A break in the case arose when the fifth girl told authorities a male motorist had stopped her on the street asking for directions when she noticed him masturbating. She took down his license plate number, which matched the car Thompson drove.

Thompson maintained he was either at his parents' Mililani home or, on one occasion, with a high school classmate at the Waipio Zippy's and, later, Mililani Wal-Mart when one of the attacks allegedly occurred.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario had sentenced Thompson to nine life terms, granting the state's request to extend the 20-year sentences on each of the first-degree sexual assault convictions because of the multiple offenses.

Thompson' public defender, Todd Eddins, declined comment. Thompson is appealing his conviction.

Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader said he was "extremely pleased" with 80 years. "That should effectively ensure he remains incarcerated for the rest of his life."

At Thompson's minimum-term hearing, Trader had asked for 100 years because of the nature of the crimes and the number of victims who have been permanently affected by the attacks to a point where one girl considered suicide.

Eighty years is the highest minimum term given to a defendant convicted of a crime besides murder. Defendants must serve at least a third before asking for early release.

The highest minimum of 235 years was given to copy machine repairman Byran Uyesugi for the slayings of seven Xerox co-workers in November 1999.

Frank Pauline, convicted in the Christmas Eve murder of Dana Ireland, received 180 years.

Wallace "Dido" Rodrigues, convicted in three Leeward Oahu slayings, was ordered to serve 100 years in one of those cases.

Frank Janto, convicted of beating to death a Wahiawa woman and dumping her body into a trash bin at Leilehua High School, received 75 years.