Habitual DUI offender sentenced to year in jail

A 54-year-old Pepeekeo man has been sentenced to a year in jail for a habitual DUI conviction while on probation for another habitual drunken driving charge.

Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara also sentenced Byron Mitsuo Miyashiro to four years probation. In addition to the DUI plea, Miyashiro pleaded guilty on Jan. 14 to driving while license suspended or revoked for driving under the influence, and refusing to submit to a breath, blood or urine test. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped charges of consuming or possessing liquor while driving and failure to give information or render aid after a collision.

In addition, Hara ordered Miyashiro’s license revoked for an additional five years.

Miyashiro, who has been incarcerated since his arrest on Nov. 10, was given credit for jail time already served.

This is Miyashiro’s second habitual DUI conviction in less than a year. He was sentenced by Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura on June 7 last year to five years probation, including a year jail sentence with all but 90 days stayed in that case.

Hara re-set the clock on Miyashiro’s probation in that case because of the new conviction.

Miyashiro told Hara on Jan. 14 that he was going to the Wailoa Small Boat Harbor when he was stopped and arrested. He admitted to having had “a couple” and refusing the breath, blood or alcohol tests.

When the judge asked if he had been involved in a traffic collision prior to his arrest, Miyashiro said, “Yes, got bumped.”

Habitual DUI, which means the offender has been convicted of driving under the influence of an intoxicant at least three times within a decade prior to the date of the current offense, is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison, while refusing to submit to the breath, blood or alcohol test is a petty misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.