[ THE ARAKAWA VERDICT ]
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Sentencing possibilities When Clyde Arakawa is sentenced for manslaughter on April 22, he faces two possibilities: probation with the condition that he spend up to one year in jail or a maximum 20-year sentence.
range from probation
to 20 years in prison
Several factors come into play
in deciding a minimum termBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com"The judge only has two choices," explained Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Sandler. "She has to do one or the other."
Once Circuit Judge Karen Ahn sentences Arakawa, the Hawaii Paroling Authority will set the minimum time he must serve in prison before he is eligible for parole.
"We have to wait for the presentencing report. We will look at all the issues surrounding the case itself and then the board will make a decision at that point," said Tommy Johnson, the paroles and pardons administrator.
The minimum sentence is determined by the nature of the crime; the offender's actions leading up to, during and following the crime; past criminal history; cooperation with law enforcement and investigators; and the loss of life and property, Johnson said.
Arakawa was convicted yesterday of manslaughter for the October 2000 death of 19-year-old Dana Ambrose. Jurors found him guilty of running a red light, speeding, driving while intoxicated and having a blood alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.08.
Before making their decision, members of the Paroling Authority will hear recommendations from the prosecutor, Arakawa's attorney and possibly the Ambrose and Arakawa families, Johnson said.
In other cases where alcohol contributed to a traffic fatality, offenders have typically been sentenced to between five and 20 years.
>> In 1997, James Steinseifer was the first to receive the maximum 20-year term for a manslaughter charge for the 1996 killing of two sisters and their 1-year-old niece in Kapolei. His blood alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit. The previous maximum sentence had been 10 years.
>> In 1996, Honolulu attorney Thomas M. Foley received the maximum 10 years in prison for the 1995 collision that killed Ho Pin Tsai and injured his wife when Foley hit their car at King Street and University Avenue. His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. He had one prior drunken driving arrest and one prior conviction. He was pardoned by Gov. Ben Cayetano in August 2000.
>> In 1990, Bucky Lake received the maximum 10-year sentence for manslaughter after he was convicted of killing five people in a head-on collision near Makapuu after he had been drinking at Sandy Beach.
Alcohol-related traffic deaths drew 10-year terms in the past
Some major sentencings in traffic fatalities involving alcohol in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s:>> Richard Goens Jr., a Kaneohe Marine: 10 years in 1996 for killing Darrin Cayetano, 26, an off-duty police officer, in 1993. Goens, who had a blood/alcohol level of 0.11, was driving a truck when he hit Cayetano and a passenger on a motorcycle as they tried to merge from the shoulder onto the H-3 freeway. He pleaded no contest to first-degree negligent homicide and first-degree negligent injury.
>> Ronald D. Oaks, a taxicab owner: 10 years in 1995 for killing his passenger, Charles Heintz, 34, when he rammed a stopped truck on North Kihei Road in 1993. Oaks, who had a blood/alcohol level of 0.26, had previous convictions for cocaine and burglary.
>> Bucky Lake: 10 years in 1990 for killing five people in a head-on collision near Makapuu in 1988. Lake, convicted of five counts of manslaughter, had been drinking at Sandy Beach and was speeding on Kalanianaole Highway. He had a blood/alcohol level of 0.15. Three people in his car, Jeremy Ng, 18, Ayce Esteban, 16, and Ross Lealaimatafao, 21, and two people in the van, Rita Snider, 69, and her daughter, Marsha Milam, 40, both of Georgia, died.
>> Ernest Uyeno: 10 years in 1987 for killing two teen-agers, Dawn Marie Julian, 16, and Elizabeth Ann Thompson, in Niu Valley in 1986. Uyeno's vehicle plowed into the teens, who were walking along Kalanianaole Highway. He was convicted of two counts of negligent homicide in a nonjury trial; he pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of the accident. Uyeno, who had been drinking beer at a fast-food restaurant before the incident, served about six years.