A 24-year-old Mountain View man whose high-speed rampage in a stolen car resulted in his being shot at by a police officer in April pleaded guilty Tuesday to numerous offenses stemming from that incident and others, plus no contest to
A 24-year-old Mountain View man whose high-speed rampage in a stolen car resulted in his being shot at by a police officer in April pleaded guilty Tuesday to numerous offenses stemming from that incident and others, plus no contest to an unrelated burglary charge.
In a plea deal with prosecutors, Daesyn Pacheco-Muragin will be sentenced to five years in prison at 1 p.m. Dec. 8 by Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara.
Pacheco-Muragin pleaded guilty to three counts of terroristic threatening, five counts of driving a stolen vehicle, two counts of second-degree theft, plus promoting a dangerous drug, unauthorized entry to a motor vehicle and reckless endangering.
His no-contest plea to a charge of burglarizing a Mountain View home Nov. 6, 2014, was, according to defense attorney Jennifer Wharton, due to civil liability.
In return for his plea, prosecutors dropped a firearms charge, another drug charge and two drug paraphernalia charges, and agreed not to press numerous potential charges that could arise from other formerly active cases.
On the afternoon of April 10, according to police, Pacheco-Muragin drove a stolen Honda sedan toward a patrol car driven by Officer Lloyd Ishikawa on Mokuna Street in Royal Hawaiian Estates.
“While driving at a high rate of speed, the defendant swerved toward the patrol vehicle, coming within one foot of the driver’s side of the vehicle. It appeared that the defendant intended to collide with the vehicle,” Deputy Prosecutor Haaheo Kahoohalahala told the judge. She identified Ishikawa as the driver and added two state sheriff’s deputies, Dennis Branco and Gerard Moses, also were in the patrol car.
Police say Pacheco-Muragin drove away and headed toward Hilo on Volcano Highway (Highway 11), where he then drove through an active road construction site and directly toward two special-duty police officers directing traffic, Lt. James Gusman and Officer Daniel Kuwabara.
“The defendant drove the vehicle toward Lt. Gusman at a high rate of speed (and) did not attempt to slow down,” Kahoohalahala said.
Court documents state Gusman fired three shots and struck the Honda, which continued toward Hilo. Neither Gusman nor Kuwabara were injured.
One terroristic threatening charge stemmed from an Oct. 14, 2014, incident along Volcano Highway. According to Kahoohalahala, Pacheco-Muragin “approached Joshua Wilson with an AK-47-looking weapon while telling him, ‘I’m gonna shoot you.’”
When asked by Hara what happened, Pacheco-Muragin described the incident as part retribution, part self-defense.
“The guy came to my house and started ransacking my mom’s house. … I came home, and the guy left already, so I left to go up to his house. And I saw him by the side of the highway,” Pacheco-Muragin told the judge, which was followed by an utterance inaudible from the courtroom gallery.
“So, you pointed a gun at him?” Hara asked.
“Yes, I did for awhile,” Pacheco-Muragin answered.
“And why did you do that?” the judge inquired.
“Because he pointed a knife at me,” the defendant replied.
Pacheco-Muragin described one stolen-vehicle case as “I was driving a truck and it came up stolen” and another as “I fell asleep in the car.”
He was linked to the burglary through video surveillance, according to Kahoohalahala.
Pacheco-Muragin remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in lieu of $70,000 bail.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
