KEALAKEKUA — A former professional boxer once accused of murdering his girlfriend and the woman’s 18-month-old daughter in separate incidents in 2011 was sentenced Friday to 10 years imprisonment for the toddler’s beating death.
According to court records, Third Circuit Court Judge Ronald Ibarra also ordered 42-year-old Xavier “Pee Wee” Cortez Jr. to make $54,197 restitution to the state Department of Human Services and Crime Victim Compensation Commission.
In a deal with prosecutors, Cortez pleaded no contest June 9 to first-degree assault.
The beating of the girl, Pomaikai Ferreira, occurred Jan. 2, 2011, in Hilo. She died at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu nine days later.
Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville said the plea bargain was made because of the death of one witness and the refusal of another to testify.
“That made it real hard for the state to go forward to trial,” Damerville said Tuesday.
Court records indicate that Keith Shigetomi, Cortez’s court-appointed attorney, asked the judge to sentence his client to probation and time already served. Cortez has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 28, 2014, following a murder indictment. Shigetomi disagreed with a pre-sentencing report by a probation officer who opined the circumstances that led to the toddler’s death and the strangulation death of the girl’s 20-year-old mother, Sommer Ferreira, were likely to recur, records state.
Records state the judge said during sentencing he found no grounds to justify Cortez’s actions and that Cortez’s character, attitude and prior history of abuse made him a poor candidate for probation.
Ibarra took over the case after both Hilo Circuit judges, Greg Nakamura and Glenn Hara, recused themselves for undisclosed reasons.
Cortez’s sentence is an “open” 10-year term, which means the Hawaii Paroling Authority will decide when he will be released. He will receive credit for time served.
Cortez was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault on the day of the incident but was released from custody pending further investigation. He was indicted on a second-degree murder charge for the girl’s death Jan. 22, 2014. The indictment was sealed by a judge until Cortez was arrested.
On Feb. 24, Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara dismissed a second-degree murder charge against Cortez for the Sept. 20, 2011, strangulation death of his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sommer Ferreira, the girl’s mother, in a Wainaku home where they lived.
That charge was dismissed without prejudice, which means prosecutors are free to refile it at a later date. There is no statute of limitations for murder.
The dismissal came at the request of the prosecution, which stated in its motion to dismiss that the state was unable to gain the cooperation of witnesses, which impaired the state’s ability to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt, the legal standard for a jury trial.
“We had one who pleaded the Fifth (Amendment right against self-incrimination),” County Prosecutor Mitch Roth said at the time. “And we had some other witnesses we couldn’t find and some witnesses we had the court ruled we couldn’t use. So, at this time, we felt, in the interest of justice, we felt it was best to dismiss the case without prejudice, as the judge allowed us to do, instead of moving forward.”