In a sentence that left the victim weeping and a prosecutor shaking his head, Circuit Judge Richard Perkins this morning ordered two men to spend weekends in jail and serve five years of probation for setting off an illegal New Year's explosive device in 2005 that blew metal shrapnel into the hand of an 11-year-old girl.

Perkins ordered Joelson Ea, 37, to serve 12 consecutive weekends in jail and complete 250 hours of community service.

Marc Bantolina, 39, was sentenced to two weekends in jail and 100 hours of community service.The men are brothers-in-law.

In a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Ea pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree assault, reckless endangering and criminal property damage.

Bantolina pleaded no contest to a single count of reckless endangerment.

Each must also complete five years of probation.

Their victim, Cydnee Somera, now 15 and a sophomore in high school, tearfully said outside court, "I think they deserved a lot more jail time."

Her father, Sidney Somera, said he didn't think the sentence "will really be a deterrent" for similar conduct by others in future New Year's Eve and Fourth of July celebrations.

Deputy Prosecutor Franklin Pacarro said, "We were requesting more jail time than they were given."

Pacarro doubted that the sentence will deter individuals who set off illegal fireworks "that turn our community into a war zone" every Jan. 1 and July 4.

Bantolina and Ea both apologized to the victim and her family members and acknowledged the stupidity of what they had done.

"I'm embarrassed, I'm shamed for what I've done," Ea said in court.

"I'm sorry for the Somera family," said Bantolina.

In sentencing the defendants, Perkins said he was convinced they "never intended" to harm anyone and he did not believe they would commit new crimes.

Speaking to the Someras, Perkins said, "I don't mean to diminish what you feel toward the defendants, but the court is not too worried about them committing any crimes in the future."

But the offenses "require a jail term" as a message of deterrence to the public, the judge said.

Each man must report to jail the evening of Jan. 2, 2009, to complete his first weekend behind bars, the judge said.

Their community service work must be completed between May of next year and May 2011.

The two must jointly pay $1,181 in restitution, Perkins ordered.

The Someras were also paid undisclosed amounts from the defendant's insurance policies.

Cydnee Somera said she spent a week in the hospital and underwent multiple surgeries to repair damage to her left hand.

The defendants claimed they were trying to make an aerial firework, but Prosecutor Pacarro said they assembled an "improvised explosive device — the things that are killing our soldiers in Iraq now."

They placed a balloon filled with acetylene gas in a metal bucket filled with sand and weighted down with a piece of a barbell, the prosecutor said.

It exploded on a residential street in 'Aiea shortly after midnight Jan. 1, 2005, spraying shrapnel into cars on the road.

"The idiot factor in this case is high," Pacarro said when the men signed their plea deals.