LĪHU’E – Chief Judge Randal Valenciano today sentenced Nicolas “Nico” McPeek, age 21 of Kapa‘a, to a five-year prison term for his involvement in a 2010 theft case.
Judge Valenciano imposed the sentence after revoking McPeek’s probation in the case, which followed a lengthy record of probation violations.
Second Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Rebecca Vogt represented the State of Hawai‘i. Deputy Public Defender Stephanie Sato represented McPeek, who has been in custody at Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center on a no-bail warrant since October 21 of this year.
This was the third time McPeek’s probation had been revoked on the same case. Sato told the court that after reviewing the motion with McPeek, he had decided that probation wasn’t right for him and requested to be sentenced to prison with credit for time served. Vogt agreed and related that the Defendant’s performance while under court supervision had been nothing less than abysmal.
Vogt stated that McPeek failed to take advantage of numerous opportunities to complete drug treatment. He was placed in the HOPE Probation program in late 2012 after being terminated from the Kaua‘i Drug Court program and regular probation. Since being placed in the HOPE program, he has violated his probation four times and absconded twice.
Prior to the Defendant’s arrest on October 21, he continued to evade capture and fled in one incident, which led to a police officer’s injury.
Chief Judge Valenciano stated that he was inclined to give the Defendant another chance at HOPE probation, but since he was requesting the open term, he agreed to sentence him to the open prison term with credit for time served.
“This defendant ran out of chances,” Prosecuting Attorney Justin F. Kollar stated. “McPeek proved, repeatedly, that he is a danger to himself, to the community, and to law enforcement. He left the judge no choice but to give him the prison term.”