Josiah guilty of threatening, firearms charges

LIHU‘E — Isaac Ikaika Josiah, 25, faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced July 8 after being found guilty Friday of two felonies.

His jury trial on five charges including terroristic threatening, trespassing and various weapons charges, was scheduled to have started Monday, but he changed his not-guilty plea in the case to no contest on Friday.

Fifth Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano found Josiah, of Kapa‘a, guilty of the felony charges of first-degree terroristic threatening and keeping a firearm in a place illegal to keep such a weapon.

Dropped was another firearms charge, a second-degree criminal trespassing charge and a second-degree terroristic threatening charge, part of a plea agreement.

Josiah, who as recently as 2008 was competing in mixed-martial-arts bouts on the island, has an adult criminal record dating back to 2006. He has two other pending cases, a 2008 case involving drug, driving and paraphernalia violations, and a 2010 case involving drugs and firearms, state court records show.

He is being held at Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center.

In the 2008 case, the drug-promotion and paraphernalia charges have been dropped via a granted motion to suppress evidence, but Josiah still faces charges of driving under the influence of an intoxicant (drugs), driving without a license and reckless driving. His next scheduled court date in that case is at 8 a.m., Thursday, before Valenciano, for change of plea or trial setting.

John Calma, state deputy public defender, represents Josiah in that case. John Murphy, county deputy prosecuting attorney, is handling the prosecution.

Josiah, who as recently as January of this year was one of Kaua‘i’s Most Wanted persons, pleaded not guilty to various drug, paraphernalia and firearms violations in the 2010 case, which has been set for jury trial next month.

Calma represents Josiah in that case as well, and Murphy has also been assigned to the 2010 case.