A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday for setting fire to a Kailua home over a dispute about work done to the home.
Circuit Judge Rom Trader also sentenced Ozane Alexander Mosley Jr. to a minimum term of six years and eight months.
"I made a lot of stupid decisions," Mosley said in court before he was sentenced. "I’m sorry for me being a burden to everybody."
Mosley, of Kapolei, pleaded guilty to first-degree arson in April.
He set fire to a vacant Kailua home at about 10:30 p.m. May 17, 2013.
Deputy Prosecutor Ronson Ibarra asked the judge for an extended sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole and a mandatory minimum of six years and eight months because Mosley qualified as a repeat offender.
Deputy Public Defender Steven Nichols asked the judge to deny the extended sentence, saying the mandatory 20-year prison term and his burns are punishment enough. He said Mosley was burned on a majority of his body, including his arms, legs and upper torso in the fire.
Trader granted the mandatory minimum but denied the extended sentence.
Police said Mosley was identified by tissue, blood and human skin found after the fire was extinguished. Vapors from a liquid accelerant caused an explosion when Mosley lit the fluid, police said.
Mosley was treated for burns the night of the fire but told police the burns were from a cigarette he had lit after refueling his girlfriend’s car.
API Corp., a real estate company that owns the home, said there was a dispute with the contractor, Honolulu Home Improvement, which is run by Mosley’s family, a police statement said. The real estate company had withheld final payment of $2,500 because it believed remodeling work was substandard and needed to be corrected.
The DNA profile obtained from the samples matched Mosley’s, whose information was on file because he is a convicted offender, police said.
