"You present to this court probably the most difficult sentencing decision that this court has made in a number of years," 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August told Preston Latu. "I don't think there has been anybody of your age that the court has considered to be ineligible for probation.

"The court likes to bend over backwards to give young people a chance to prove they can turn their lives around."

August said he didn't believe Latu could comply with requirements of probation. Placing him on probation would be a "disservice" to both Latu and the community, the judge said.

The Wailuku resident had pleaded no contest to reduced charges of second-degree robbery and first-degree unlawful imprisonment, as well as unauthorized control of a vehicle, first-degree terroristic threatening and driving without a license in a Nov. 22 carjacking case.

Police stopped him that night in Wailuku while he was driving a Honda sedan that he had taken from a 19-year-old Wailuku man who was found in the trunk, according to police. The victim reluctantly had agreed to give Latu a ride at Queen Ka'ahumanu Center in Kahului before Latu displayed a knife and took control of the sedan, police said.

Latu drove the car around Kahului, picking up and dropping off several people and twice having the victim get into the trunk during the several hours before the police stop and Latu's arrest, police reported.

Although he was a juvenile, Latu faced charges as an adult after Family Court waived jurisdiction.

Noting that Latu has a juvenile record, Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani said one reason for the waiver was that "the Family Court felt that they couldn't help Mr. Latu anymore."

"They had been trying for years to reach him, to get across the point that he needed to change," Tani said.

In court Friday, Latu said he was ready to change after spending 137 days in jail.

"I know it's not right, what I was doing in the past," he said. "I see how much I value my family and my freedom."

Latu said he didn't want to be like other prisoners who hadn't learned from being incarcerated.

"All I get is my grandma. I just like get out and take care her," he said. "I wish I could apologize to the people that I've done wrong against."

At the time of the offense, Latu was "unsupervised, addicted to methamphetamine and basically without any tether of any kind to the community, to himself," said defense attorney Anthony Vierra.

"It was this dark period where Preston was wild, basically," Vierra said.

He said Latu had grown up unsupervised in Wailuku since about age 8.

While Vierra said Latu would have been a good candidate to be sentenced to a shorter five-year prison term and other conditions as a youthful offender, he wasn't eligible because his juvenile record includes felony convictions.

Latu is awaiting adjudication in Family Court as a juvenile for multiple counts of stealing from his grandmother, attorneys said.

"Preston is somebody that can be salvaged," Vierra said.

But Tani recommended the prison term, saying Latu's criminal behavior was escalating with more serious acts.

While the carjacking victim didn't suffer serious physical injury, "the mental trauma that he suffered will probably be with him for a while," Tani said.

"He was terrorized for several hours," Tani said. "Thank God that the police got involved."

While August couldn't sentence Latu to the shorter prison term, the judge recommended that Latu be incarcerated separately from career criminals and receive special rehabilitation.

August said Latu could obtain treatment for substance abuse and work toward obtaining the equivalent of his high school diploma while incarcerated. But Latu also was ordered to pay $650 in restitution.