MEDIA RELEASE

HONOLULU – A federal inmate, Taloa Latu, 29, was sentenced today to 8 years of imprisonment for committing an assault resulting in serious bodily injury to another inmate. Following his incarceration, Latu will be on supervised release for 3 years.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii Kenji M. Price announced that, according to court documents and information presented in court, on September 11, 2016, Latu, a State of Hawaii inmate housed at the Federal Detention Center (“FDC”) in Honolulu, repeatedly punched, kicked, and stomped on another inmate. After the assault, the victim was transported to the Queens Medical Center, where he was treated for serious injuries, including a broken jaw and broken ribs. This case was prosecuted in federal court, as the United States has concurrent jurisdiction for crimes committed at FDC, Honolulu. Latu was convicted of the assault on February 15, 2018, following a two and a half day jury trial.

At sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright commented that Latu “is a grave danger to others,” based in part on his extensive criminal history, which includes multiple prior assault convictions.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Morgan Early and Michael Nammar handled the prosecution.