A 29-year-old man must serve about 16 more years in federal prison in connection with the fatal shooting of an Army helicopter pilot nine years ago at the Wai'anae Army Recreation Center.

Bryson Jose still faces a trial later this month on a charge of destroying property at the Federal Detention Center that carries a separate prison term of up to 10 years.

Jose was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor to a 25-year federal prison term that was part of a plea agreement. Jose will get credit for the nearly nine years he has served behind bars.

"I have nothing to say," Jose told Gillmor when asked if he wanted to address the judge before sentencing.

Jose was 20 when John Latchum Jr. was killed at the Wai'anae facility where the pilot was vacationing with his wife and two children the night of June 3, 1998.

Jose was part of a group of Wai'anae youths who had been drinking beer and smoking marijuana before they went to Latchum's cabin, according to the prosecution. When Latchum yelled at the group, he was shot once in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle, court papers said.

Last week, Roberto Miguel, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to a 25-year federal prison term, also the result of a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty to murder and admitted he fired the fatal shot.

Gillmor ordered Jose and Miguel to pay the Latchum family $979,699 in restitution.

Both men were previously sentenced to life in prison for murder convictions in the case, but in 2003, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside the convictions. Before the retrial, both men reached the plea agreements with federal prosecutors calling for the 25-year prison terms.

After yesterday's sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald Johnson said Latchum's wife, Wendy, would have preferred life sentences, but understood why the prosecutors entered into the plea agreements. Prosecutors earlier said they didn't want to risk an acquittal or retrial in the years-old case.

"She trusted our judgment," Johnson said.

Jose faces a trial set for June 26 in federal court on the property damage charge. He and two other inmates are charged with destroying a recreation facility at the detention center's special holding unit in March last year.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.