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Man gets 10 years in fatal hit-and-run case
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Posted on Mar 05 2020
A Corrections officer and CNMI Court Marshals escort David Desebel Kapileo to the courtroom of Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho at the Marianas Business Plaza Building in Susupe for sentencing hearing yesterday morning. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)
A habitual offender was slapped yesterday with a 10-year imprisonment sentence for his involvement in a hit-and-run case that killed a pedestrian in As Mahetog in 2018.
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho ordered David Desebel Kapileo to serve the maximum 10-year prison term, with credit for 646 days of time served.
Camacho left it to the discretion of the Board of Parole whether to grant Kapileo parole if he qualifies after serving eight years in prison.
The 52-year-old Kapileo was ordered to pay $16,521 in restitution to the victim’s wife before his sentence ends. He is also required to pay $25 in court costs and prohibited from drinking alcohol.
The Office of the Attorney General had charged Kapileo with homicide by vehicle, driving while under the influence of alcohol, reckless driving, speeding, failure to maintain lane, and leaving the scene of accident.
On Jan. 30, 2019, Kapileo pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle and reckless driving. He later admitted that he was so intoxicated on the day the incident happened that he does not even remember what exactly occurred.
Kapileo hit Shanghai Gao on April 1, 2018. Gao, a Chinese national, was hit at the intersection of Chalan Pale Arnold Road and As Mahetog near the Saipan Ice and Water Co. He died that same day.
Police said that, according to a witness, after the SUV hit the victim, the driver kept driving south, then made a left turn on Mihaville in Garapan. Police found the SUV seven hours later.
Kapileo has been in jail since his arrest on May 28, 2018, after failing to post a $100,000 cash bail.
Assistant public defender Jean Pierre Nogues served as counsel for Kapileo. Assistant attorney general Erin Toolan represented the government.
Kapileo had been arrested several times for various cases since being released on a murder conviction.
According to court records, Kapileo fatally shot his mother with a gun at their house in Garapan in December 1992.
