On Wednesday morning, Federal Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Jacob “Jake” Smith to 121 months in federal prison, just over 10 years, plus an additional 5 years of supervised release.
It is not clear whether this includes, or is in addition to, the six years he has spent in detention since his arrest in 2018.
Smith, who appeared via a video link from an undisclosed location, was one of the first of Miske’s associates to begin cooperating with federal investigators immediately after his arrest on drug charges in August 2018, and the first of the key witnesses against Miske to be sentenced. He has been in federal custody since his arrest.
Smith, now 31, pleaded guilty in 2020 to being part of Miske’s racketeering conspiracy, and to distributing or possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
The sentence was actually 121 months on each of the two counts, but Watson specified that the two terms would run “concurrently,” meaning they would be served together at the same time.
The drug charge alone carried a 10-year minimum sentence, so the sentenced handed down by Judge Watson was only a token amount over that minimum.
Smith’s attorney, Louis Michael Ching, asked that he be considered for a witness protection program. Smith was assaulted several times while being held in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center in apparent retaliation for his testimony against Miske, and was moved to an undisclosed facility for his protection.
However, Ching said Smith was afraid to return to the general population of the facility where he is being held, and has insisted on staying in solitary confinement in the special housing unit.
Watson also recommended that the Bureau of Prisons place Smith “at a facility near Nevada or Arizona to be near family, or at a dropout yard facility.”
So-called dropout yards are a type of facility established by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2010 to house gang dropouts, former law enforcement officers, and other inmates found to require additional protections beyond that offered in traditional prisons.
One of these dropout yards is located in Tucson, Arizona.
Watson also recommended Smith be placed in a 500-hour drug and substance abuse program, receive a mental health assessment and any necessary treatment, as well as vocational and educational training.
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This sounds like a fair and compassionate sentence for someone, who, though apparently gulty of many more crimes that he was charged with,, has already paid heavy consequences for them (being beat up several times in jail and now apparently living, by choice, in isolation). It will feel like a heavy sentence to him, but will give him some hope for a better future.
As I have said on the blog before we know the Smiths, and we are rooting for Jake’s redemption. Since his parents agreed to the home confinement the attorney requested previously must mean they are willing to support him when he gets out. They are good people.
I am also rooting for Jake. His family will be there for him and give him all the love and support he needs. Mahalo Ke Akua.
Wow, do his victims think it was a “fair and compassionate” sentence?..while he was practicing, repeatedly, his brutal free will on them? I’m all for retribution And rehabilitation…but his actions lean waaaay more towards retribution from our civil society in my opinion.