LIHUE — A sex offender who violated his probation twice was sentenced to serve his full 10-year prison term Tuesday in 5th Circuit Court. After five years of probation modifications and revocations, Justin Konala Espinueva, 30, will now serve the
LIHUE — A sex offender who violated his probation twice was sentenced to serve his full 10-year prison term Tuesday in 5th Circuit Court.
After five years of probation modifications and revocations, Justin Konala Espinueva, 30, will now serve the prison term, stemming from a conviction in October 2009.
Espinueva initially served an 18-month jail term on seven counts of second-degree sexual assault and two third-degree sexual assaults involving two 14-year-old girls. He received five years of probation as part of the sentence. After violating his probation in 2012, Espinueva was sent to prison Tuesday.
“The judiciary did not fail you,” Judge Kathleen N.A. Watanabe told the defendant in court.
Rather, the judge said, it was Espinueva’s deceit in not reporting correct information to probation and lying about his living arrangements with a girlfriend and children, in violation of his probation, that was his undoing.
“To sentence you to a another chance at probation would be putting the community at risk,” Watanabe said.
Espinueva was assigned to the supervised program HOPE (Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement) on Nov. 16, 2011, for five years.
It’s designed for closely supervising high-risk offenders, and in 2012, he violated probation.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Arin recommended prison, saying that Espinueva has proven that he cannot be trusted. As a sex offender convicted of serious crimes, he is a danger to the community, she said, and was lying to his probation officer and treatment providers.
“The defendant continued to violate the boundaries put in place to ensure that he does not re-offend,” Arin said. “In addition to the lying, the defendant was residing in a home with minor children and viewing pornography.”
Espinueva had reported to probation that he was residing with an aunt in Hanamaulu, but he was actually staying with his girlfriend and her minor children, including an infant daughter they had together.
State Deputy Public Defender Stephanie Sato asked the court to sentence Espinueva to nine months and a new probation term.
Sato spoke at length about Espinueva’s ability to comply amidst difficult circumstances with living and working on Kauai.
He first had his probation transferred to Oahu, where he has a family support network.
The probation was revoked and Espinueva was required to return to Kauai after being spotted in an Oahu bar. Since returning, Sato said the defendant’s false reporting of his living arrangements are serious, but asserted that the other violations were minor and that he did not present a danger to society.
“The full prison term would be purely punitive,” Sato said of the 10-year sentence.
In his statement to the court, Espinueva said he was sorry for the infractions and that he would treat another probation more seriously now that his life has changed with the birth of his daughter.
“This defendant’s crimes are extremely serious, and his conduct reflects a clear failure to take his obligations seriously,” said County Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar.
