A man convicted yesterday of murdering an off-duty deputy sheriff will be the first person sentenced under a new state law allowing juries to impose extra prison time on certain "persistent" criminal offenders.

After deliberating for six days, a Circuit Court jury yesterday found John K. Lorenzo Jr. guilty of the murder of Daniel Browne-Sanchez during a botched nightclub robbery Feb. 10.

The panel also found Lorenzo guilty of kidnapping and weapons offenses, but acquitted him of an armed robbery charge and reduced another charge from attempted second-degree murder to reckless endangerment.

Lorenzo, 32, faces a maximum term of life in prison with the possibility of parole, but the prosecutor's office said it will seek to apply the new law — signed by the governor just days ago — for an "extended sentence" of life in prison without parole.

Judge Karl Sakamoto set a hearing on that motion for Nov. 28.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott Bell told the judge that because there are no rules or procedures yet established for applying the law, his office believes that the jury that found Lorenzo guilty also should be responsible for deciding the issue of extended sentencing.

Over the objections of defense lawyer Walter Rodby, Sakamoto agreed, and ordered the jury to return for the Nov. 28 hearing, which he said might "take a few days at the most."

Sakamoto ordered jurors not to discuss the trial with each other or with anyone else, or to read news accounts of the case before the next hearing.

The prosecutor's office and Rodby declined to comment on the jury verdict until after the sentencing hearing.

Family members, friends and co-workers of Browne-Sanchez yesterday left the courthouse without comment. His mother, Robina Browne, was escorted out of Circuit Court through a back entrance by state deputy sheriffs.

James Propotnick, deputy director of law enforcement for the state Department of Public Safety, said outside of court yesterday that he was satisfied by the jury's verdict.

"Danny was one of us. Every description of the word 'hero,' he was," said Propotnick. "He did everything he was trained to do. He made his move and he did his job right up to the end."

THE DEFENSE'S CASE

Defense attorney Rodby claimed during the month-long trial that "two thugs," whom he did not name, forced Lorenzo to commit the armed robbery because of an unpaid drug debt.

But Bell argued to the jury that armed robbery was Lorenzo's intent when entered the Osake Sushi Bar and Lounge in the early-morning hours of Feb 10. Lorenzo carried a silencer-equipped, stolen handgun and wore a mask and bullet-resistant vest. He fired a round just past the head of an assistant manager and fired several more times while ordering employees to get on the floor.

Browne-Sanchez, 27, was working as a bartender's assistant when the crime occurred. He was shot while trying to subdue Lorenzo. Other employees of the nightclub grabbed Lorenzo after the fatally-wounded Browne-Sanchez fell on his assailant.

Rodby said during the trial that Browne-Sanchez was legally intoxicated at the time of the shooting. The defense lawyer argued that Lorenzo was trying to leave the bar when Brown-Sanchez rushed him.

Lorenzo was awaiting sentencing for drug and drunken-driving convictions when he killed Browne-Sanchez. He pleaded no contest to those charges in July 2006, but Judge Sakamoto, over the objections of prosecutors, deferred sentencing in order to allow Lorenzo time to complete a drug rehabilitation program.

EXTENDED SENTENCING

Sakamoto sentenced Lorenzo to consecutive 10- and 20-year prison terms for the drug and drunken driving offenses.

After the murder, Browne-Sanchez was praised by friends and co-workers.

"Some people might say what he did was kind of foolish, but to us, he's a hero," said fellow Deputy Sheriff Johnee Kukahiko at Browne-Sanchez's funeral. "We don't run away from battle. If Dan didn't do what he did that night, we might be at more than one funeral today. He saved a lot of lives."

Browne-Sanchez was with the Department of Public Safety for five years.

Chaplain Larry Kelly said Browne-Sanchez reacted the way he did to Lorenzo because of his training as a deputy sheriff and because of his personality.

The new extended sentencing law was passed during the recently concluded special session of the Legislature in reaction to an Oct. 1 state Supreme Court ruling. The court ruled that a Hawai'i law that gave judges authority to impose extended prison sentences under certain conditions violated the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling said that juries, and not judges, should determine the facts that trigger longer prison sentences.

Gov. Linda Lingle signed the new sentencing measure Oct. 31.

The city prosecutor's office filed a notice with Sakamoto yesterday morning saying that it intended to use the new law to seek an extended sentence for Lorenzo. The defendant is "a persistent offender who has previously been convicted of two or more felonies," the prosecutor's motion said.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.