After just four months behind bars, a Mililani man sentenced to a year in jail in the death of a Honolulu police officer was denied a motion for early release Monday.
Scott Frederick Ebert, 46, was sentenced in August after a jury found him guilty of third-degree negligent homicide in the 2012 death of Garret Davis, 28, in an H-1 freeway crash.
Wearing a white prison jumpsuit, Ebert appeared in court Monday before Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi, who denied his motion for a reduced sentence.
Ebert was facing a 20-year prison term for manslaughter when his case went to trial, but he was instead found guilty in May of the least serious offense: third-degree negligent homicide, a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in prison.
During Monday’s hearing, Ebert’s attorney Emmanuel Tipon said Ebert has been a model inmate at the federal detention center, where he serves as a teacher in the general education diploma program. He’s also part of a Bible study group.
A federal firefighter and Air Force reservist, Ebert was seeking early release to be present for an upcoming Air Force administrative separation hearing to address whether he can continue to serve, Tipon said. Ebert’s young daughter also has experienced behavioral problems due to Ebert’s absence, his lawyer added.
In the January 2012 crash, Davis — a police officer with the Wahiawa Police Station — stopped his patrol car behind a stalled vehicle on the shoulder of the H-1 freeway near the Kaonohi Street overpass to assist the two occupants. Ebert was traveling at least 80 mph in a pickup truck when he slammed into the rear of Davis’ patrol car and the officer was killed.
After the hearing, deputy prosecutor Adrian Dahkhwa said, “To ask that the sentence be cut short after four months, I think it was really a slap in the face, really disrespectful to the victim’s family.”
