WEED & SEED DRUG SENTENCE APPROPRIATE

As reported in the April 14 Advertiser, U.S. District Judge David Ezra
sentenced Iupeli Migi on April 13 to a prison term of nearly eight years
after a federal jury convicted him of six counts of selling and
possessing crack cocaine in A'ala Park, which is within the
federal-state Weed & Seed site.

As a result, I read Rob Vaughan's April 24 letter with great interest.
Vaughan, of the American Studies Department, University of Hawai'i,
cites this as "an excellent example of this country's insane drug
policy" and questions whether incarcerating Migi in a federal
penitentiary is the "wisest use of taxpayer money."

Ezra considered a number of factors, including Migi's criminal conduct
and his prior record, in determining the appropriate sentence. During
Migi's sentencing, the assistant U.S. attorney pointed out that since
1996, Migi had been arrested and convicted of five felony drug offenses,
all of which occurred within the Downtown-Chinatown area, within the
Weed & Seed site, and within the close proximity to playgrounds, public
housing and businesses.

The assistant U.S. attorney also pointed out that since 1994, Migi had
been arrested and convicted of numerous crimes of threatened and actual
violence, including harassment, terroristic threatening, assault and
abuse of a household member. During the commission of these offenses,
Migi threatened to shoot a security guard, rushed police officers and
had to be subdued with pepper spray, punched a police officer in the
face, entered an apartment and punched and kicked his girlfriend and
assaulted her two children.

Based on Migi's prior convictions, previous terms of probation and
incarceration and continued violation of the law, the assistant U.S.
attorney characterized Migi as a "chronic violent drug offender" and
requested the maximum term of incarceration for the protection of the
public, particularly in the Downtown-Chinatown area.

Ezra sentenced Migi at the middle of the applicable guideline range of
incarceration. He also sentenced him to drug rehabilitation and
treatment while he is incarcerated.

Given Migi's prior record and his apparent refusal or inability to
follow the law and avoid victimizing his family and fellow citizens,
Ezra's sentence was appropriate and indeed a proper use of taxpayer
money. Society will be protected from Migi while he will have the
opportunity to address his own substance-abuse problems and hopefully
straighten himself out for his return to society several years from now.

Steven S. Alm, United States Attorney