KAILUA-KONA — Julie Kaaloa thinks the no contest plea by a Captain Cook man accused of hitting and killing her 10-year-old daughter in a November 2016 crash was not appropriate.
“I think ‘not guilty’ would’ve been more appropriate,” Julie Kaaloa said Friday. “I asked the judge to not give him anything.”
William Herndon, 63, was indicted last November on a charge of misdemeanor negligent homicide. The charge stemmed from an incident that occurred Nov. 2, 2016. Walking north, Janexty Kamakamaeuluwehi Kaaloa, known to family and friends as Ulu, attempted to cross Highway 11 toward her family’s restaurant, Kaaloa’s Super J’s, when she was hit by Herndon, who was driving south in a tan, 1987 Jeep pickup truck.
Herndon on Wednesday entered a no contest plea to the charge of second-degree negligent injury and was sentenced to one year probation with a $2,000 fine.
Julie Kaaloa wrote a letter to the court, which was read aloud by her mother the day of sentencing.
“I don’t want Mr. Herndon to have any consequences. None! None at all!” she wrote. “I want all charges dropped.”
Kaaloa wrote that she didn’t think Herndon committed a crime.
“I believe in my heart this is a spiritual occurrence,” the letter read.
Kaaloa, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrote about a conversation she believes her daughter had with God and Herndon before she was born.
“She asked Him how she would return back to Heaven,” Kaaloa wrote. “Bill stepped forward and said: ‘I will help Janexty. I will help you return back to Heaven.’”
Kaaloa wrote that she agreed to be Ulu’s mother in the “pre-earth life” so she could remind Herndon that he kept his promise to her daughter and that the 10-year-old loved him.
“From the beginning, that’s how I felt,” the letter read.
The letter also recalls the day of the crash and Ulu’s death, as well as the support the family received after the crash.
“The community came together and supported me and my family and the children that were there that witnessed this accident,” the letter reads.
Kaaloa also wrote about her desire to meet Herndon, which they did a few weeks after the crash at Paleaku Peace Garden.
On Friday, Kaaloa said her family misses Ulu, “but what can we do?”
“We got to be the best people we can be till it’s our turn to go,” she said.
Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.
