Circuit Judge Michael Town sentenced Micah Kanahele as part of an plea agreement that will allow him to withdraw from part of it if the Hawai'i Paroling Authority decides he should serve more than 20 years before he is eligible for release on parole.

For now, the sentence closes the cases against Kanahele for the deaths of Greg Morishima, 49, who was gunned down by three masked men in an 'Aiea garage on Oct. 26, 2003 and Guylan Nuuhiwa, 26, who was shot in the parking lot of the Longs Drug store in Pearl City six days later.

Kanahele was convicted of manslaughter for Morishima's death in a second trial. The earlier trial ended with a hung jury. The jury in the second trial rejected a murder charge and found him guilty of the lesser manslaughter offense.

Kanahele was also charged with murdering Nuuhiwa and wounding another man at the parking lot.

As part of the agreement, Kanahele was found guilty of murder and attempted murder after he decided not to challenge those charges and pleaded no contest.

The agreement allows Kanahele to withdraw those no contest pleas and go to trial on the murder and attempted murder charges if the paroling officials decide that Kanahele must serve more than 20 years.

Kanahele would then go to trial on those charges, but the manslaughter conviction would still stand and he would have to serve a maximum 20-year sentence for that case.