Driver in fatal
crash gets reprieve

Jones Poti's prison term is delayed
so he can earn full retirement

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

A Maili man who killed two women in a three-car crash in Waianae in 2000 will remain free for six months before going to prison so that he can obtain full retirement benefits.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins allowed Jones Pele Poti, 56, to remain free after sentencing him to 10 years in prison on reduced charges of first-degree negligent homicide, three counts of negligent injury and leaving the scene of the July 29, 2000, accident that killed Janet Joseph of Waianae and Elizabeth Kahalepuna of Kapolei.

Joseph's daughter Fabian Saballa questioned the fairness of the decision. She said Joseph did not get a chance to enjoy her husband's retirement, while Poti's family will benefit from his.

"You tell me what is fair," she said yesterday after the sentencing.

Deputy public defender Alexandra Scanlan requested the delay to allow Poti to continue working at Golden State Foods, where he has worked for 26 years and will retire in January.

"Our request is not to benefit him, but out of concern for his family who is dependent on him," Scanlan said.

Poti has eight children, three grandchildren who live with him and a wife who has medical problems, she said.

Perkins said that while he was moved by testimony about the "extraordinary pain and suffering" the Joseph family has gone through, Poti's liability in this case was based on negligence, not on reckless or intentional harm.

A loss of retirement benefits will affect Poti's family and his ability to pay restitution, he added.

Perkins, however, did order Poti to surrender his driver's license and to pay restitution in an amount to be determined.

According to prosecutors, Poti had been drinking and was driving his truck, weaving in and out of traffic on Farrington Highway when he sideswiped a car, forcing it into the path of an oncoming car. Besides the two deaths, three other people were injured.

Prosecutors said Poti had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

Charles Joseph, Saballa's brother, and a tow-truck driver told the court yesterday that he passed the crash scene and arrived home only to be told his mother and daughter were in one of the cars involved.

Saballa said her mother's death has greatly affected her 77-year-old father.

"He cries every night," Saballa said. "I can cook for him, clean for him, take care of his health, but I cannot replace my mom, the woman he spent 50 years with."

Poti, who is now a deacon at his church and teaches Sunday school, faced the Joseph family who packed the courtroom yesterday. He expressed remorse for his actions, saying he has wished that he also had died that day two years ago.

"Please forgive me, please forgive me," he said. "Healing starts when we forgive. ... I am deeply remorseful."

Poti must turn himself in on Jan. 17.