HONOLULU (Island News) -- U.S. Representative Jill Tokuda is urging the military to increase the maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter, following last year’s conviction of a Schofield soldier who killed his pregnant wife and unborn child.
The congresswoman sent a letter to the Chair of the Joint Service Committee on Military Justice on Monday, Jan. 12, requesting the maximum sentence for military members convicted of voluntary manslaughter to be increased. The prison sentence is currently lower for military members in Hawaii and many other states.
Under the 2024 Edition of the Manual for Courts-Martial, the penalty for voluntary manslaughter is no more than 15 years in confinement. In comparison, the maximum sentence for this crime is:
- Up to 20 years in states like Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts and Texas
- Up to 25 years in New York
- Up to 30 years in the District of Columbia, Florida (if a weapon is used), Illinois and Maine
- Up to 48 years in Colorado
- Up to life in prison in Washington State
Rep. Tokuda learned about the issue after a Schofield soldier’s horrific killing of his pregnant wife. PFC Dewayne Arthur Johnson II admitted to killing his wife, Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson, and her unborn child with a machete in July 2024. Johnson dismembered them in their Schofield Barracks home and placed their remains in a nearby dumpster.
Johnson pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and other crimes related to her disappearance in June 2025 and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
“Considering the perpetrator’s horrific actions to kill his wife and unborn child and cover up his crime through gruesome and unconscionable acts, this sentence seems insufficient. I fear that prosecutors seeking justice were undermined in their ability to impose more stringent consequences by the comparatively low maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter under the UCMJ,” Rep. Tokuda wrote in the letter.
“While nothing can be done about PFC Johnson’s sentence now, your committee has the power to recommend updates to maximum sentences for offenses under the UCMJ to deliver justice for victims in the future. I strongly urge the Joint Service Committee to recommend to the President a significant increase to the maximum penalty for voluntary manslaughter to ensure that the most heinous and remorseless actions yield the highest sentences. That is the least that we can do for Mischa Johnson and her family.”
By: Jeremiah Estrada
Source: KITV