Over the course of the past two months, The Leader has reported on the sentencing hearings of Siaumau Sanele Auseuga, a former felon who was convicted of illegal firearm possession in October 2023. This past Thursday, Jefferson Superior Court took one step closer to settling the case.

The original sentencing hearing for the Auseuga conviction was on Nov. 17. At that meeting, several factors, including the victimless nature of Auseuga’s crime, were discussed. These considerations prompted Judge Brandon Mack to direct the defense and prosecution to return on Dec. 1 with alternatives to the state’s sentencing guidelines that prescribed a 36-48 month period of incarceration.

Throughout the interval between Nov. 17 and Dec. 1, Auseuga remained confined at the county jail in Port Hadlock. During that span of time, an additional charge of harassment was filed by Jefferson County alleging that on Nov. 29, and again on Nov. 30, Auseuga allegedly sent life-threatening text messages to a Tacoma resident.

On the morning of Dec. 1, sentencing was delayed (for a second time) until Dec. 8.

Once again, in the period between hearings, additional accusations were made against Auseuga. According to a jail incident report made on Dec. 4,  Auseuga allegedly assaulted another inmate while he was asleep. The incident report was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for gross misdemeanor charges of assault in the fourth egree. 

The scheduled Dec. 8 hearing was brief, due to the fact that Auseuga failed to appear. Despite this delay, all parties agreed that they would reconvene on Dec. 14 and that the more recent harassment charges would be addressed, along with the sentencing options for the illegal firearm conviction.  

On Dec. 14, all parties, including Auseuga, were present in the courtroom and the court began by considering the recent harassment charge. Auseuga’s defense attorney, Lillian Powers, informed the court that her client was pleading not guilty to the allegations and a trial date of Feb. 5 was set.

Jefferson County’s Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Melissa Pleimann, made clear to the court that none of the previously discussed alternatives to a 36-48 month incarceration (e.g., suspended sentences, work-release programs) were applicable to Auseuga’s illegal firearm conviction.

Defense attorney Powers countered with a new sentencing proposal based on a 2010 Washington State Bill called The Family and Offender Sentencing Alternative (FOSA). According to the Washington State Corrections website, FOSA eligibility requires that the individual be a biological/adoptive parent, custodian, or stepparent of a minor child, and that the relationship was ongoing and substantial at the time of the current offense.

If adopted, the FOSA alternative would conceivably allow Judge Mack to waive the previous 36-48 month sentence guideline, and instead, impose 12 months of community supervision. Importantly, if any of the conditions of the prescribed community supervision are violated, FOSA can be revoked and judges can reinstate the original sentences. Entry into the FOSA program also requires a thorough risk assessment by the Department of Corrections (DOC) to determine the likelihood Auseuga would commit future infractions of the law.  

In court on Dec. 14, Pleimann argued that Auseuga did not fulfill the requirements for the FOSA program.  Judge Mack acknowledged the strength of the prosecutor’s assertions and repeatedly mused over the considerable resources that are required for the DOC to perform the risk assessment. Still, in the end, the court decided to proceed with the review.

Assuming no further delays, the next hearing, at which the relevant parties will review and argue the merits of the DOC risk assessment, will be on Feb. 9 - a full three years after the original 2021 arrest.