Driver in traffic death
faces 1-year prison term

Answer: Ann Lesley Cherry of Hawaii Kai pleaded no contest to third-degree negligent homicide last month and is scheduled to be sentenced March 31. Third-degree negligent homicide is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,000 fine.

She is also being sued by the victim's wife and adult children. The family's attorney says Cherry operates a delivery service and was making deliveries when she struck Hirose Inouye as he was walking on the shoulder of Diamond Head Road just before 5 p.m. April 26.

Inouye, 83, was walking along the makai shoulder when he was hit near Palaoa Place. Cherry was traveling on the makai, eastbound lane of Diamond Head Road. Inouye was taken in critical condition to the Queen's Medical Center where he later died.

Inouye was known to take daily afternoon walks around the Diamond Head area. One of his sons went looking for him after he heard a pedestrian had been hit there. The son found his father's car at Fort Ruger Park, and police directed him to Queen's after he was unable to find his father.

Police said the car drifted onto the shoulder when the driver of the car took her eyes off the road as she reached toward the passenger's seat to grab something.

Inouye was the driver of a delivery van that was hijacked by convicted felon Albert Batalona during a daring bank robbery and shootout with police in Kahala in 1999.