Posted on: Thursday, December 6, 2001

Man gets life without parole in pilot's death

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Bryson Jose, 23, convicted of felony murder for his role in the attempted break-in that led to the 1998 shooting death of an Army helicopter pilot in Wai'anae, was sentenced in federal court yesterday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He is the last of three men to be sentenced in the case.

Jose, of Wai'anae, told federal Judge Helen Gillmor that he didn't shoot John Latchum Jr. or order anyone else to shoot him.

But Gillmor told Jose that, under federal law, anyone who participates in a crime knowing that a firearm may be used in that crime, bears the same responsibility for the death of a victim as the assailant who actually fires the shot.

Latchum was shot just before midnight June 3, 1998, as he stood on the porch of a rented beach cabin at Wai'anae Recreation Center with his wife, Wendy. They were trying to chase away a group of young men the couple thought was trying to break into the cabin.

In his remarks at the sentencing hearing, Jose fought back tears as he apologized, first to Latchum's family then to his own, while continuing to maintain that he played no role in Latchum's death.

"I really didn't do nothing, I didn't kill anybody and now my life is on the line for what somebody else did," Jose said. "I don't think I deserve life in prison; I never kill nobody. It wasn't my call."

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Johnson told Gillmor that evidence presented at the trial clearly showed that Jose should have known his actions the night Latchum was killed would put other people in grave danger.

He said Jose knew that the men who planned to burglarize the beach cabin or rob its occupants took an illegal, sawed-off rifle with them and once they got there, could see the lights were on inside the cabin, indicating it was occupied.

Gillmor told Jose that he should have known there was a high risk that someone might be killed.

Roberto Miguel, who fired the shot from the .22-caliber rifle that struck Latchum in the heart, was convicted of murder and sentenced to a mandatory life term earlier this year.

Keala Leong, who came within one juror's vote of also being found guilty of murder, pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and was given a 10-year prison term.