A 36-year-old man pleaded guilty today to two counts of assaulting a federal officer in connection with a March 23, 2020, attack on two correctional officers at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.
David Akui-Cabanilla III will be sentenced in U.S. District Court on Aug. 25.
According to court documents, federal detainee Akui-Cabanilla fashioned two makeshift weapons in preparation for the attack. The first weapon was a tube sock tied to the loop of a locked metal padlock. The second was a shiv formed from a razor blade with a piece of bed sheet tied around one end, simulating a handle.
Akui-Cabanilla entered the office of a correctional officer in his housing unit and struck him in the head with the metal padlock. The detainee them took the officer’s keys and pepper spray and ran for the door leading out of the housing unit, said a news release from the U. S. Attorney’s Office for Hawaii.
As Akui-Cabanilla tried to unlock the door, other correctional officers opened it. He sprayed multiple officers in the face with pepper spray and then punched one of the officers on the side of his head and face, knocking him down to the ground, the release said. There was a struggle before the officers were able to subdue the man.
The first correctional officer was discovered unconscious and bloodied on the floor of the housing unit office, the release said. He was taken by ambulance to The Queen’s Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for five days. The guard Akui-Cabanilla punched in the head also was treated at Queen’s.
Each count of assaulting a federal officer resulting in bodily injury provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
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