A 28-year-old prison inmate who admitted to the 2007 shotgun slaying of a friend pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter, as well as an unsuccessful jailbreak attempt in 2015.
Acting Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto sentenced Malaki McBride to 25 years imprisonment, 20 years for the death of Tyrone Torres and five years for the attempted escape from Hawaii Community Correctional Center, consecutive to the manslaughter sentence.
“We believe that the … agreed-upon sentence is a fair disposition of both matters,” Stanton Oshiro, McBride’s court-appointed attorney, told the state.
The plea deal and sentence avoids a second murder trial in McBride’s case. He was sentenced in 2010 to life plus 20 years for the shooting death of the 21-year-old Torres, who was killed Feb. 25, 2007, while seated in a car parked in a secluded cul-de-sac in Nanawale Estates. McBride was 17 when the shooting occurred, but was tried as an adult on charges of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony and auto theft.
In November 2012, the Intermediate Court of Appeals overturned McBride’s murder conviction, ruling that Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara’s oral instructions to the jury on the extreme mental or emotional disturbance defense differed from agreed-upon written instructions. The unanimous opinion of a three-judge ICA panel returned McBride’s murder case back to the courtroom of Hara, who has since retired, for a retrial. McBride remained in prison on the firearms offense.
McBride, who sported numerous tattoos including one on his right forearm that identified him as a member of the La Familia prison gang, looked occasionally into the courtroom gallery toward his parents, Ronald McBride and Katherine Gleason, who are deaf, and on at least one occasion spoke to them in sign language. He said little during the plea change and sentencing, briefly answering questions with mostly “yes, sir” and “no, sir.” He declined to make a statement before sentencing.
“In the (change of plea) form, Mr. McBride, it says, ‘I admit, while I was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance, I caused the death of Tyrone Torres with a firearm.’ You agree with that statement?” Nakamoto asked.
“Yes, sir,” McBride replied.
Early on the morning of the shooting, McBride and a friend were driving around in McBride’s sister’s car — which McBride had taken without permission — when they discovered Torres having sex with McBride’s girlfriend, in her car, which was parked at Nanawale Estates’ Hanalei Circle. McBride opened the passenger-side door and shot Torres in the head with the shotgun.
Then, McBride drove his girlfriend’s car to Waa Waa and torched the vehicle with Torres’ body inside.
“The court is familiar with this case; it’s been going on for a long time. … I believe the plea agreement is fair under the circumstances,” Nakamoto said while passing sentence.
The manslaughter sentence carries a 10-year minimum prison term, with credit for time served. McBride has been incarcerated for more than a decade, since his arrest for the shooting, but how long he actually serves will be decided by the Hawaii Paroling Authority.
The attempted jailbreak took place at about 2 a.m. April 25, 2015, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Four inmates, identified as McBride, Airiel Jost, Douglas Kaimiola and Kawaipuna Noa, allegedly used a piece of furniture to ram a door open in their housing unit. They left through the door and were quickly restrained outside their unit by corrections officers. A lockdown was initiated and the inmates didn’t make it outside the HCCC perimeter. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.
Deputy Prosecutor Shannon Kagawa said afterward Torres’ family — which wasn’t present at McBride’s sentencing — was consulted about the plea deal, which Kagawa said was made since “circumstances are different” since McBride’s trial.
“Things were fresher; witnesses were more available,” she said. “… He was 17 when he committed this offense. He’s going to serve much of this sentence. I think the parole board won’t be letting him out anytime soon.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
