Posted on: Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Mirikitani ordered to finish sentence
By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer
Former City Councilman Andy Mirikitani was resentenced yesterday to the same 4€-year federal prison term he received in 2002 for his public corruption convictions, leaving him with more than a year left to serve behind bars.
But since that time, the high court issued a second ruling that essentially made the guidelines advisory rather than mandatory.
Gillmor yesterday ruled that the 4 1/4-year term is still warranted based on Mirikitani playing a leadership role in the corruption crimes and obstructing justice, including making "materially false statements" during his trial.
The judge said Mirikitani's conduct "fueled the public's lack of trust in government."
If an elected official violates the public trust, "why should the person on the street have respect for the law?" Gillmor said.
Mirikitani, now a Texas resident, declined to address the judge and later left the federal courthouse without comment.
He was ordered to resume serving his prison term on June 28.
Mirikitani is the only City Council member and the highest-ranking elected official in Hawai'i to be convicted on federal felony charges while in office.
He was found guilty by a jury of a bribery-kickback scheme of offering bonuses to two of his then-council aides in exchange for them routing a share of the money to him. Sharron Bynum was convicted of helping him and received a 21-month sentence. The two were married just days before they were sentenced.
Mirikitani had already served about 33 months before he was released on $10,000 bail last year from a federal facility in Louisiana.
That would leave him with about 18 months left to serve, but his lawyer, Georgia McMillen, said Mirikitani had been doing well in prison and earned about 150 days credit for good behavior. The time out on bail does not count toward the sentence.
She said Mirikitani, since his release on bail, has started with his wife a small business in Texas selling household collectibles over the Internet.
McMillen asked that Mirikitani be resentenced to the time he already spent behind bars or be allowed to serve the rest of his term at a halfway house or under home confinement.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Purpura said Mirikitani still hasn't shown any remorse. He urged the judge to impose the same sentence.
Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor permitted Mirikitani to be released on bail last year while awaiting resentencing, after a U.S. Supreme Court decision put into question sentences by judges who relied on federal sentencing guidelines.
Andy Mirikitani
