Robbery suspect a 5-time felon who has had no prison time

The man accused of robbing a soccer mom at Kapiolani Park has five prior felony convictions but has never been to prison, despite repeated probation violations, according to state court records.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging Phillip Osuna with robbery, kidnapping and other charges in connection with the Sept. 21 incident. According to the indictment, Osuna threatened the woman with a simulated firearm.

She is the mother of a soccer player and was waiting in her car during practice.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins confirmed Osuna’s bail at $200,000.

Osuna, 34, remains in custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center for the alleged robbery and to await a hearing on whether he violated his probation for a 2013 robbery.

Osuna also has felony convictions for drug possession and for breaking into cars.

Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro says Osuna’s case highlights a need to review the state’s probation system.

Osuna’s first felony convictions were for possessing a dangerous drug in October 1999 and for breaking into a vehicle in March 2000. He pleaded no contest to both charges, and in April 2001 a state judge gave him the opportunity to avoid conviction by granting him a five-year deferral.

In August 2003, Osuna broke into another vehicle. He pleaded no contest, and in December 2004 another judge sentenced Osuna to five years of probation for that case as well as for the drug possession and previous vehicle break-in.

While still on probation for the three cases, Osuna broke in to yet another vehicle in September 2006, to which he again pleaded no contest. A third state judge sentenced him in March 2007 to another five years of probation and extended the probation sentences for the other three cases so that all four would run at the same time.

This time, however, the judge referred Osuna to Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement program, which is designed to impose punishment as soon as probationers commit violations to keep them on track and to prevent them from getting into more serious trouble.

While in HOPE, Osuna violated probation once in each of the years 2007-2010 for which he was punished with jail time ranging from a few days to 27 days. Osuna completed his probation for all four cases in 2012.

In August 2013, Osuna approached a woman walking along Ala Wai Boulevard from behind, told her he had a gun and grabbed her purse. During the struggle over the purse, the woman fell to the ground and Osuna fled. Bystanders pursued Osuna and held him until police arrived.

Osuna pleaded no contest to robbery, and in May 2014 yet another state judge sentenced him to four years of probation in the HOPE program.

Kaneshiro said that at that point Osuna “should have gone to prison.”

Kaneshiro also said the roughly 3,000 felons currently in HOPE are too many for the court to effectively monitor.

Osuna was punished four times for probation violations in his second stint in HOPE. He completed his latest jail term on Sept. 9.

Following Osuna’s arrest in the Kapiolani Park robbery, Kaneshiro’s office filed a request with the court to revoke Osuna’s current probation and to have him sentenced to 10 years in prison. A hearing on the request is scheduled for December.