Man charged in stabbing of teen boy during party

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 20-year-old man has been charged in the stabbing of a Kahuku High School senior early Sunday morning at an after-prom party in Mililani.

Joshua Lee Sojot was charged Monday with attempted second-degree murder. His bail is $40,000. Sojot has no prior convictions, according to Hawai'i Criminal Justice Data Center records.

Sojot is accused of stabbing Michael Garcia, 17, in the stomach, chest and in both arms. Garcia, a running back on the 2003 state championship Kahuku football team, has been moved out of the intensive care unit at The Queen's Medical Center and appeared to be "out of danger," said his mother, Ursula Garcia.

Michael Garcia and Sojot did not know each other before Sunday, the boy's mother said.

According to a court document, police arrived at the Kelewa'a Street home at 2:08 a.m. and found Garcia lying on the ground and Sojot standing nearby, bleeding from the mouth. Witnesses told police that Garcia was stabbed during a scuffle with Sojot.

There was bad blood between a group of young men invited to the party and another group of uninvited guests from the Kahuku area, said Ursula Garcia. Her son, however, had been invited to the party, she said.

The court document said the knife cut an artery and will result, according to doctors, in protracted loss of abdominal wall muscles for Michael Garcia.

Ursula Garcia said that her son is determined to graduate with his class next month and that tutoring, if necessary, will be set up with the help of Kahuku faculty.

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.