Care home owner denied parole
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawai'i Paroling Authority has ruled that Raquel Bermisa, the adult-care home owner whose 20-year manslaughter sentence was reduced to four years, must serve the full term for the death of a woman under her care.
Advertiser library photo • Oct. 18, 2000
Bermisa initially pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a plea agreement that would have put her behind bars for only one year. But she changed her mind, decided to fight the charge, and was convicted for the death of 79-year-old Chiyeko Tanouye, who died in 1999 of neglect.
Raquel Bermisa was convicted for the death of 79-year-old Chiyeko Tanouye, who died in 1999 of neglect.
Bermisa was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2001. But in one of his last acts as governor, Ben Cayetano commuted her sentence in December, saying she had been punished enough. That reduced her sentence to four years.
That meant the parole board, which met earlier this month, had to reconsider how much time Bermisa had to serve before she would be eligible for parole. Her original manslaughter sentence came with a mandatory minimum of six years and eight months because the victim was older than 60.
The board could have given Bermisa a minimum term of up to four years, parole or release. The three-member board chose the longest term.
"I'm very pleased that the parole board did a thoughtful, careful and deliberate review of the entire case and came to the correct decision," said Deputy Attorney General Michael Parrish, who prosecuted the case. He had been critical of Cayetano's decision to commute the sentence.
"The paroling authority upheld the spirit of the law that gives extra protection to members of our society who are more vulnerable to crimes, particularly the elderly," Parrish said.
William Harrison, who represented Bermisa at trial and before the parole board, said he was disappointed by the decision because Bermisa had been "an exemplary inmate" at the Women's Community Correctional Center.
"You have to give people hope that there is a reward for doing things correctly," Harrison said. "By giving her a max sentence, that means there is no reward."
Harrison said he believed the board had been influenced by recent publicity about care homes and the Legislature's debate over unannounced inspections for the homes.
"That had a very intense light on this case, and I think the parole board may have been affected by this," he said.
Bermisa's sentence expires Jan. 8, 2005, said Tommy Johnson, paroles and pardons administrator for the authority. Bermisa can apply in six months for a reduction of her sentence, he said.
The jury at Bermisa's 2000 trial found that Tanouye had died of septicemia, a painful infection brought on by advanced decubitus ulcers, or bed sores. In the weeks before Tanouye's death, Bermisa had ignored a doctor's instructions to bring the woman in for treatment, the prosecution said.
On Aug. 9, 1999, Bermisa brought the retired Diamond Bakery clerk to a hospital emergency room, unconscious. Tanouye died the next day.
Cayetano attributed his decision to commute the caregiver's sentence in part to the prosecution's willingness to give her a one-year sentence. "Mrs. Bermisa's 20-year sentence was disproportionate to her crime," Cayetano said.
"As far as I knew, Bermisa was a person who had never been in trouble before, and yet she was given the same sentence as criminals who intentionally killed people. And at the time I commuted her sentence, Mrs. Bermisa had already been imprisoned for more than a year."
Parrish said the plea agreement would have been an admission of guilt, which he considers important in the case. "There has still been no acknowledgement of wrongdoing," the prosecutor said.
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
