High court upholds
Arakawa’s conviction
The Hawaii Supreme Court has affirmed the manslaughter conviction of former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa for causing the death of 19-year-old Dana Ambrose in a car crash almost three years ago.
Arakawa, 50, is serving a 20-year sentence at Halawa prison. He is eligible for parole after 18 years.
In February 2002 a jury found that Arakawa was driving while intoxicated when he sped through a red light and plowed into Ambrose's car, killing her instantly. Arakawa was on the road after a seven-hour drinking binge at two bars when the accident occurred at Pali Highway and School Street on Oct. 2, 2000.
Rod Ambrose, Dana's father, said yesterday's decision is especially meaningful since the third anniversary of his daughter's death is coming up.
"Our objective all along was to get justice not only for Dana, but for all the people of Hawaii so nobody else's parents or families have to go through what we went through," he said.
At trial, Arakawa had argued that he was not drunk because he had a liver that was able to metabolize alcohol more efficiently than less experienced drinkers and that it was Ambrose who ran the red light.
In his appeal Arakawa argued, among other things, that Circuit Judge Karen Ahn erred when she allowed prosecutors to tell the jury about Arakawa's blood-alcohol test results and a 1992 trespassing conviction that involved alcohol use. The justices disagreed.
Police had probable cause, in addition to observing Arakawa's physical demeanor at the scene, to believe that results of the test would establish he was intoxicated, the justices wrote.
Also, because the prosecution had to prove that Arakawa consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his driving would cause someone's death, the 1992 incident was relevant to show he knew his judgment was seriously impaired when intoxicated, the justices said.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said the ruling clearly shows that police can force a driver to submit to a blood-alcohol test and that previous alcohol-related convictions are admissible in a manslaughter case involving drunken driving.
Arakawa, who retired after the crash with 25 years in the Police Department, is in protective custody at Halawa, said Warden Clayton Frank. He said Arakawa is doing well, and called him a "model inmate."
Attorney Peter Van Esser, who represented Arakawa in his appeal, could not be reached for comment.
