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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, May 25, 2007

Army aviator's killer gets 25-year sentence

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

Miguel

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A 9-year-old murder case came to a close yesterday with a 25-year federal prison sentence for a man who had admitted shooting to death an Army helicopter pilot at the Wai'anae Army Recreation Center.

Roberto Miguel, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, also was ordered to pay $979,699 in restitution to the family of Army Warrant Officer John Latchum Jr.

Miguel was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor.

"We believe the 25-year sentence he received is an appropriate sentence given all the factors," said assistant U.S. attorney Ron Johnson.

Miguel also received five years' probation and was ordered to pay a $200 special assessment to the court.

"This case has resulted in a lot of pain and suffering for a lot of people. It cost Mr. Latchum his life and to a lesser extent it has cost Mr. Miguel his life. Mr. Miguel will be in his early 40s when he's released from prison," said Peter C. Wolff Jr., a federal public defender for the district of Hawai'i. "Mr. Miguel, I think, has learned a lot from this case and has made an effort to change himself."

On the night of June 3, 1998, Latchum and his wife were vacationing at the recreation center with their two children. Latchum was awakened by his wife, who thought she heard someone trying to break in.

According to a 1998 federal criminal complaint, Miguel admitted he was with several friends at the recreation center and had a .22-caliber rifle the night Latchum was shot.

According to the complaint, Miguel said he fired a single shot toward Latchum at the urging of another youth after the Army pilot yelled at him and the others.

Wendy Latchum heard the door lock to their cabin being jiggled at about 1 a.m. and saw eight people on the lanai, the complaint said.

She yelled at the group, and they ran to a wooded area near the beach, it said.

John Latchum awoke and yelled at the group from the lanai. Wendy Latchum reported hearing what she thought was a firecracker, and that her husband told her he had been shot. He was shot once in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle.

The bullet pierced his heart and he died on the cabin's front porch.

Another youth, Bryson Jose, who was 20 when John Latchum was shot, and Miguel were convicted of murder in 2000 in connection with the shooting.

A prosecution witness testified during the trial that Jose and Miguel were part of a group of a half dozen Wai'anae youths who spent the hours leading up to Latchum's death drinking beer, smoking marijuana and shooting at a bank surveillance camera with the same gun that was later used to shoot Latchum.

The group also beat and robbed another man of a backpack shortly before Latchum was killed.

In December, federal prosecutors agreed to a reduced sentence of 25 years for Miguel.

They also agreed to drop the murder charge against Jose and agreed that he also serve a 25-year sentence for two convictions related to the shooting.

In court papers, federal prosecutors explained that they didn't want to risk a retrial or acquittal in the 8-year-old case.

Jose and Miguel originally were sentenced to life in prison without parole after their convictions.

But a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July 2003 reversed the murder convictions on a 2-1 vote, saying Gillmor made a mistake in not allowing the defense to introduce the possibility that someone else fired the shot that killed Latchum.

Under the sentencing agreement, the government dropped the pursuit of a felony murder conviction against Jose, who will still be sentenced to 15 years for robbery and 10 years for possessing an unregistered firearm, the maximum terms for those convictions. Jose also will face up to $500,000 in fines.

The robbery and firearm charges are related to the shooting.

Also under the plea agreement, Miguel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and carrying the gun that killed Latchum.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.