Former death row inmate sentenced to life for sex trafficking in Hawaii
Isaiah McCoy, who exploited multiple victims including a minor, received life in prison in federal court, in a volatile sentencing hearing marked by his outbursts.
by Jeremy Yurow, Court House News, November 13, 2025
HONOLULU (CN) — A federal judge in Hawaii on Thursday sentenced Isaiah McCoy to life in prison for sex trafficking three adults and one minor, concluding a case that exposed years of manipulation, violence and psychological control over his victims.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson handed down the sentence seven months after a jury convicted McCoy, 38, on 14 counts including sex trafficking, obstruction and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. The sentence exceeds the mandatory minimum of 15 years and carries no possibility of parole.
“The defendant undoubtedly inflicted a lifetime of emotional trauma on his victims. This sentence is necessary to protect society,” Watson said.
The sentencing hearing was punctuated by McCoy’s repeated outbursts and confrontational behavior. He interrupted Watson, laughed and shouted insults at survivors who gave impact statements. When Watson handed down the life sentence, McCoy began clapping and laughing.
“Sentence me to 15 years or life, it won’t matter,” McCoy told the court. “I have nothing to be sorry or remorseful for.”
Two victims delivered emotional testimony describing the lasting effects of McCoy’s abuse. One of the trafficking survivors, who is referred to as Victim 2 in court documents, addressed the court despite her initial reluctance to attend.
“I wanted to see the look on McCoy’s face when he’s handed the sentence,” she said. “I ask you, as the judge, to keep this animal in a cage and toss the keys.”
When another survivor, Minor Victim 1 took the stand, McCoy interrupted repeatedly, calling her “disgusting” and “mentally ill.”
“I speak today because I deserve to be heard,” she testified. “What he did wasn’t a mistake, it was a choice. He took away my safety, my peace and my innocence.”
Prosecutors had requested life imprisonment, emphasizing McCoy’s predatory targeting of young, vulnerable women. Between 2019 and 2021, McCoy lured victims with false promises of romantic relationships and luxury lifestyles before compelling them to engage in hundreds of commercial sex acts.
“This defendant unapologetically preyed on vulnerable women and girls and used brute force violence and threats to sell their bodies over and over again, all for his financial benefit,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Hutson said.
Evidence presented during the 12-day trial in April revealed a pattern of escalating violence and control. McCoy, who required victims to call him “Daddy” or “Zeus,” stomped on victims, threw them to the ground, and in one instance knocked a woman unconscious by smashing her head against a car door before carrying her through a hotel lobby.
He maintained control even while incarcerated through relentless phone calls and demanded victims share their cell phone locations and provide continuous updates on earnings, which he spent on designer shoes, belts and clothing.
During his statement to the court, McCoy denied the charges, invoking racial injustice and comparing himself to biblical figure Joseph.
“A white woman accusing a Black man is something that has happened in this country time and time before,” he said. “Most of the things they said was not true.”
McCoy, who represented himself during portions of the trial alongside attorney Gary Gurmail Singh, promised to appeal the conviction, calling Watson’s courtroom “a lowly court.”
The case marks another chapter in McCoy’s troubled legal history. He previously spent time on Delaware’s death row before his murder conviction was overturned in 2017. A federal judge dismissed earlier sex trafficking charges against him in 2018 after evidence that may have been illegally obtained was withheld. In 2021, he was convicted of robbery for beating a man and stealing his watch in Waikiki.
Watson, in announcing the sentence, noted that McCoy has a criminal history spanning three decades, from shoplifting at age eight to assault and terroristic threatening as a young man.
Despite some mitigating factors from his youth, including an absent father and time spent in juvenile detention where he claimed to have been abused, Watson said McCoy “hasn’t demonstrated a lack of remorse, any regret, or taken any responsibility for his actions.”
“He thought he was doing them a favor by giving them an economic opportunity they otherwise wouldn’t have had,” Watson said.
Hutson emphasized the precedent for life sentences in sex trafficking cases, citing United States v. Muslim in the Western District of North Carolina, in which a defendant received life in prison for one count of sex trafficking by force and one count of sex trafficking of a minor.
“Every girl he has abused has had a life sentence when they look in the mirror and remember what he did to them,” Hutson told the court.
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Background:
- 2010: McCoy charged with Murder of Drug Dealer
- 2015: Delaware Prosecutor said bad, bad things about accused murderer
- May, 2018: McCoy sounded well-spoken and sincere at the April 2017 Hawaii speaking engagement, said Kenneth Lawson
- May, 2018: “All of these females were prostitutes before I met them,” McCoy said.
- June, 2018: Feds: Alleged Pimp Bribes, Threatens Witnesses from FDC
- Aug, 2018: Hawaii Man Pleads Guilty To Witness Tampering
- Nov 13, 2018: Soft on Crime: Judge drops all charges against former death row inmate prosecutors said wanted to build prostitution empire
- Nov 14, 2018: How Moron Prosecutors Blew Pimp Case (Clue: Sexting the hos and lying about it is a bad, bad idea.)
- Nov 17, 2018: UH: Ken Lawson Admits his “Innocence Project” Brought Alleged Pimp to Hawaii
- Nov 22, 2018: UH: Convicted Felon Paid to Get Other Convicts Released
- 2019: Watson Released from Federal Detention Center Honolulu--May 24, 2019
- Aug, 2019: Ex Death-Row Inmate was Driver When Child Sex Trafficker Arrested for Manoa Robbery
- 2020: Death Row 'Not-a-Pimp' McCoy Kicked out by Angry Mother