2 isle killers face
at least 100
years in jail

The Hawaii Paroling Authority
decided the minimum prison
time for these and others

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

The Hawaii Paroling Authority has ordered a man convicted of killing a video store clerk and a Honolulu Symphony volunteer within seven months of his release from prison to spend a minimum 100 years behind bars.

The minimum term was among nearly 150 handed down by the Hawaii Paroling Authority in May and June this year.

Samuel Cooper Jr., 35, is already serving 100 years for his conviction for second-degree murder for bludgeoning Waikiki video store clerk Keith Miyashiro to death in August 1999 with a 7-pound roll of plastic wrap during a robbery.

His second 100-year term was for pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the May 1999 slaying of Honolulu Symphony volunteer Fred Cramer.

Both terms will be served at the same time under a plea agreement reached in the May 1999 murder. Cooper's attorney could not be reached for comment.

Honolulu prosecutors had asked the Hawaii Paroling Authority last November to incarcerate Cooper for the rest of his life for the safety of the community.

He had been released from prison just four months after serving time for unrelated first-degree assault and rape convictions when he killed his first victim.

A man who stabbed his wife to death on Maui also received a 100-year minimum.

Brian Kawamoto of Maui, ordered to stay away from his Waiehu Terrace home, hid in a closet and waited for his wife, Bridget, to return home with her three children in September 1999.

He attacked her in the shower and stabbed her several times before fleeing.

Maui prosecutors had asked that Kawamoto never be released, calling him a "coward" for killing his wife, a substitute teacher at Baldwin High School, denying responsibility and forcing his children to relive their mother's death through the trial.

Also receiving minimum terms were:

>> Former Pearl City care home operator Raquel Bermisa, six years and eight months for manslaughter in the August 1999 death of a 79-year-old patient through neglect.

>> Danny Haili, 40-years for second-degree murder for shooting his wife to death in June 1996 in the carport of their Kailua home.

>> Cheryl Mosier, 10 years for manslaughter, for stabbing her husband to death in their Mililani home in April 2000.