Judge frees man
mistakenly arrested
in October
A man who was mistakenly arrested for attempted murder in an October shooting in Kalihi was released Monday after serving about 4 1/2 months in jail.
District Judge Russel Nagata granted Jonathan Soriano's request to reconsider a six-month sentence for a probation violation, for which he had been serving time after a circuit judge dismissed the attempted murder charges last week at the request of the city prosecutor.
The court reconsidered its earlier order because of the prosecution's position that Soriano was not responsible for the attempted murders, said Myles Breiner, Soriano's attorney.
Nagata also placed Soriano back on two years probation and ordered him to pay a $150 fine and complete a domestic violence-intervention program.
Prosecutors had opposed early release, arguing that Soriano had violated a restraining order and was placed on probation before but failed to comply with court-imposed conditions.
Breiner called the state's opposition politically motivated and an attempt to intimidate Soriano into not filing a civil rights lawsuit for unlawful imprisonment in the attempted murder case.