Man accepts plea deal, state salvages 2015 homicide prosecution

The state murder trial of a man accused of killing Jack in the Box restaurant manager Helen Prestosa ended abruptly when the defendant accepted a plea offer from the state before the case went to the jury.

Jhun Ley Irorita, 29, pleaded no contest Friday to first-degree assault. The charge is a Class B felony, and Irorita agreed to accept the maximum 10-year prison term at sentencing in August. The Hawaii Paroling Authority will decide how much of the 10 years Irorita must serve before he can be eligible for parole.

Had he had been convicted of murder, Irorita would have faced a mandatory life prison term with possible release on parole.

The plea deal came one day after Circuit Judge Karen Nakasone denied the state’s request to suspend the trial to give it time to check on the mental health of its key witness, Irorita’s father. Nakasone had also given the state until noon Friday to present her a doctor’s note about Roger Rivera’s inability to testify.

Rivera’s testimony Wednesday was cut short before Deputy Prosecutor Wayne Tashima could ask him what his son told him about Prestosa. In his opening statement to the jury, Tashima said Irorita told his father that he killed Prestosa, then had Rivera assist him in getting rid of Prestosa’s body.

Volunteers cleaning up trash on Tantalus found Prestosa’s skeletal remains and items missing from her home at the bottom of a steep embankment in April 2016, five months after Prestosa was last seen alive.