Ex-Marine gets 30 years for rape and assault

When a state judge asked Christopher Cantrell whether he had anything to say to the court before getting sentenced for beating up a visitor in a Waikiki hotel room and then abducting and raping the man’s 10-year-old daughter, Cantrell just bowed his head and turned it side to side to indicate "no."

Circuit Judge Randal O. Lee sentenced Cantrell, a dishonorably discharged Marine, Tuesday to 30 years in prison for burglary, assault, kidnapping, six counts of sexual assault and one of promoting child abuse. The child abuse charge is for taking a pornographic picture of the girl.

Lee also ordered Cantrell to pay $2,151 restitution for costs associated with his victims’ medical treatment and $1,000 into a state fund to benefit victims of crimes.

Cantrell, 29, agreed to the 30-year prison term when he pleaded guilty to the charges in a deal with the prosecutor in March.

"The only reason we entered into a plea agreement with the defendant was in the interest of the safety and well-being of the minor victim," said Landon Murata, deputy city prosecutor.

Lee told Cantrell he would have imposed a longer sentence if he had been found guilty after a trial. Lee said he abided by the terms of the plea agreement because of the trauma the girl experienced.

"You preyed on someone who was partially blind, namely the victim’s father, and a 10-year-old girl who was defenseless. You ruined her life," the judge said.

Lee admonished Cantrell for manipulating the court system in an attempt to avoid facing up to the charges against him.

Cantrell fired his first lawyer one week before his trial was scheduled to begin. He pleaded guilty on the day his trial was rescheduled to begin after Lee denied Cantrell’s request to fire his second lawyer.

On Tuesday, Cantrell attempted to withdraw his guilty pleas and reschedule his sentencing after making allegations against his second lawyer and retaining a third.

His third lawyer said Cantrell was willing to make the allegations under oath but changed his mind on Tuesday.

Police said Cantrell met the girl and her father Sept. 17, 2008, on the pool deck of the Waikiki Banyan and accompanied them to their hotel room. They said Cantrell asked the man whether he could take nude pictures of the girl, then punched the man repeatedly until the man lost consciousness.

He then took the girl to a laundry room on another floor and raped her, police said.

Cantrell, who is from South Carolina, had just completed three years of military confinement for misconduct. He was sentenced to the confinement and given a dishonorable discharge for missing duty, being drunk on duty, stealing a big-screen television from the barracks’ common area and setting fire to one of the rooms, according to the records of his court-martial.