Defendant
expresses remorse
in pilot’s death

Keala Leong gets a 10-year
sentence for his role in the
death of John Latchum

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

Saying no words could bring back slain Army pilot John Latchum, an emotional Keala Leong apologized to the court and to the Latchum family for their loss.

"I'm deeply sad I was a part of this nightmare and this family's (nightmare)," Leong, 22, said yesterday. "I, Keala Leong, accept full responsibility for my actions."

Leong was the second of three defendants sentenced in connection with Latchum's murder on June 3, 1998 at the Waianae Recreation Center.

His unscripted comments contrasted with the lack of remorse shown by co-defendant Roberto Miguel, who was sentenced last month to life imprisonment for first-degree murder. Bryson Jose, the remaining codefendant faces the same sentence as Miguel when sentenced in December.

U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor sentenced Leong yesterday to 10 years for attempted burglary -- the maximum penalty based on the seriousness of the underlying offense he pleaded to. "It is a price that has to be paid," she said, and a "small price" compared to the life term he could have faced.

Leong pleaded guilty earlier this year to attempted burglary in exchange for the government dropping the remaining first-degree murder charge. A jury in December acquitted him of attempted robbery charges but could not reach a unanimous verdict on the first-degree murder and attempted burglary charges.

In asking for the maximum penalty, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Johnson said the attempted burglary charge did not reflect the loss of life that resulted from the activities that Leong participated in that night.

And while Leong was not a "prime mover" in the events that evening, he was so close to Miguel and Jose that "he found what they were doing entertaining, exciting and something he wanted to be a part of -- and that's where he made a mistake."

Testimony at trial showed the three were part of a group who were drinking that evening and talked about robbing people and going to the beachfront cabins to steal items off the porches. Nearly each member of the group had touched or seen the gun brought along by another youth and knew it was loaded as they walked to the cabins that night.

Leong received a second chance when he was allowed to avoid a life term in prison and plead instead to the lesser charge, Johnson said. To sentence him to anything less than 10 years would "trivialize or minimize the impact he had on Latchum's family."

Leong's attorney, Rustam Barbee, had asked the court sentence him to no more than 100 months and order intensive substance abuse treatment and participation in a "boot camp" program that requires intensive structure, discipline and confinement. "It's not too late for Keala," Barbee said.

Had Leong not exercised poor judgment or abused drugs and alcohol, he never would have been involved in this case, Barbee said.

Gillmor ordered Leong to participate in the longest substance abuse program available and recommended boot camp, saying she hoped he would go into it with the right attitude.