City prosecutors will seek a maximum five-year prison term for former 'Aiea dance instructor Daniel Jones, who was convicted yesterday of molesting one of his former dance students.

After six days of deliberations, a Circuit Court jury found Jones, 22, guilty of two counts of third-degree sex assault.

The jury acquitted Jones of first-degree sexual assault charges, which carry a maximum 20-year sentence, involving a second former student, and could not reach a verdict on two other charges.

But the convictions on the two third-degree sexual assault charges give the prosecution a chance to put Jones behind bars. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 7 by Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall.

"This man is a sexual predator. He is in denial about his conduct. It's questionable whether treatment will do any good in his case," city Deputy Prosecutor Thalia Murphy said outside of court. "He needs to be held accountable for his actions."

Jones avoided comment, but his attorney, Myron Takemoto, said they were "very disappointed."

"Clearly, we believe there was more than sufficient reasonable doubt," Takemoto said.

Takemoto said they plan to appeal and predicted that the convictions will be reversed.

Jones, a former instructor at the Rosalie Woodson Dance Academy in 'Aiea, was originally charged with shocking allegations that he molested five students — girls aged 12 to 15 years old — in 2004 and 2005.

He was accused of molesting them separately at various locations, including at the studio.

In his first trial, the jury deliberated for nine days before acquitting Jones of molesting three of them, but the panel could not reach unanimous decisions on charges involving two other girls. The retrial was on those charges.

Jones did not testify in either trial, but his lawyers argued that inconsistencies in the girls' testimony could not support a conviction on any of the charges.

Before the verdict was announced yesterday, Jones sat alone at a courtroom desk with head bowed, turning to selected pages in a thick paperback novel in front of him, hearing only sounds of sobbing behind him from a small group of supporters that included his parents and grandmother.

Fifteen minutes later, the jury of five men and seven women returned their verdict.

Some of Jones' friends and relatives clasped their hands together as the clerk announced "not guilty" verdicts on the first two counts, first-degree sex assault.

When the clerk announced "guilty" on the third-degree sexual assault counts, the courtroom silence was broken by loud sobbing. Shock and disappointment were apparent on the faces of Jones and his two attorneys.

The jury acquitted Jones or could not reach a unanimous decision on charges involving a girl who was 12 and 13 years old when she said she was molested.

He was convicted of sexually assaulting an older girl who was 14 at the time of the offenses.

Jones left the courthouse free on $100,000 bail, but Murphy is seeking an increase in the amount. A hearing will be scheduled before Judge Crandall.

In both trials, the prosecution's case involving the older girl was bolstered by her father secretly taping a conversation with Jones. On the tape, the father said the girl indicated that when Jones tried to hypnotize her, "there's some stuff and touching going on."

Jones replied, "Oh, yeah."

Bill Graham, one of the jurors, said sitting on the panel "was very hard."

"We listened to all the testimony, considered all the evidence and we deliberated for six days," he said.

Graham said he was confident that the jury "came to the right decisions about the case."

The jurors "got along" quite well, he added.

"We respected each other," Graham said. "Every day, we polled each other and talked everything through."

Because of the convictions, Jones will now have to register as a sex offender.

"He was like a kid in a candy shop over at the Rosalie Woodson Dance Academy," Murphy said. "He was a male in a place that had 350 children; he had his pick and he abused his position of trust and authority over those children."

She said the public will now know he's a sex offender. "It is my prayer that he will never teach dance to another child," she said.

Murphy noted that prosecuting this type case is difficult.

"His family may be in denial about his conduct, but the jury has spoken," she said.

Ed Higa, Jones's father, would not comment and deferred all statements to his son's attorney due to the pending appeal.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com and Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.