By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
James Steinseifer, now in jail.

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‘It can happen
to anybody’

The drunken driver
who killed two women and a child
reflects on the consequences

By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin

James Steinseifer never thought he was the kind of guy to go to prison for killing a baby and two women in their 20s.

At 33, he pictured himself as nice, successful and ambitious, aspiring to manage a radio station.

Now an inmate facing a term of 20 years to life for three counts of manslaughter, he realizes he didn't see the signs of his own alcohol problem.

He wants to reach those who still get behind the wheel after a few drinks, hoping to spare what he describes as an "atomic bomb" of pain.

"You think: 'This isn't me,'" he said yesterday at Oahu Community Correctional Center. "It was not in my dreams to kill three people when I put my head down on my pillow at night. But it happened to me. And it is me."

Steinseifer, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to the charges, agreed to talk to send the message that people shouldn't drink and drive. He discussed his background to try enable people to identify with him, to tell them, "If if can happen to me, it can happen to anybody."

Steinseifer also described his loss of freedom, the consequence of his decision to drink and drive.

"My mother will probably die while I'm in prison, and I probably won't get to go to her funeral," he said. "My grandmother also is dying in a hospital. If I hadn't been drinking and driving, I could have moved her here so they could be together."

Steinseifer, a Farrington High School graduate, said he comes from a military family and knows right from wrong.

He said he competed in swimming and diving in college and was health-conscious, eating vegetarian and rarely drinking.

Steinseifer said he got what he described as a "wake-up" call in 1985 at age 21, when he was convicted of drunken driving.

He said he had never been in trouble before and saw the conviction's effect on his parents, from making them worry to paying more in car insurance.

"I thought to myself: 'Gee, I'll never do that again.'"

Once on a career path, he pushed himself, striving to be the top account executive at a local radio station. He said he started to drink when business began to include entertainment.

But he also said he declined to drive on several occasions after drinking. He said he and his friends had designated drivers.

Steinseifer said he hadn't planned to drive Jan. 7, the day of the incident. He said he had treated his aches and pains from lingering bronchitis with todies of vodka and orange juice, adding: "I knew it was a Band-Aid."

He said experts said he had the equivalent of 14 drinks, a quantity that surprised him. He said he consumed the drinks over several hours, during which he had been watching television and napping.

Prosecutors said his blood/alcohol level was 0.36, more than four times the legal limit of 0.08.

He said he decided to go to the doctor after his cough worsened. "There was nothing going off in my brain saying don't get behind the wheel of a car," he said, adding it was only a couple miles to St. Francis-West.

Steinseifer said he had been on the two-lane winding road only twice. He said he looked down at his radio and back up when he saw a car in what he then thought was in his lane.

He braked before he crossed the center line on Farrington High way, killing Nicole Nuuanu-Dudoit, 22, Carina Nuuanu, 22, and their 1-year-old niece, Laakea Nuuanu.

His car's air bag inflated, protecting him. When he looked at the car he had hit, he saw a woman slumped over the steering wheel and knew she was dead.

"From the day I was charged, I wanted to plead guilty," he said. "I was taught right from wrong, and what I did was wrong."

Steven Teves, Nuuanu family attorney, said the family is leaning toward recommending a 20-year term for Steinseifer.

He said the family believes 20 years likely would be adequate punishment and that Steinseifer could benefit society if he were to speak out against drinking and driving. City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said he could respect the feelings of family, whom he described as courageous and dignified.

But he said he would seek a life term. He said as a prosecutor he had to consider the effect of the sentence on the community and the seriousness of the offense.

"I have no doubt this guy is living in torment," he said.

"He's probably an easy person to be friends with. But we need to send the message that if you drink and drive and kill, you go to jail. End of story."

Steinseifer said he couldn't fault Carlisle for doing his job. But he also said he belonged in prison and that he forfeited his life the day he took the lives of the Nuuanu family members.

He described prison as "hell," adding: "My hell hasn't even begun yet." He said prison life includes rising at 6 a.m. to be counted, one hour of recreation in which inmates walk in circles, in bed at 9 p.m. and lights out at midnight.

He said he hopes to write about his experiences.

"If this misfortune can keep one person from being killed, maybe it wasn't so senseless, maybe they didn't die in vain."