A 28-year-old Mountain View man who struck and killed an elderly bicyclist with a pickup truck late last year pleaded no contest Wednesday to first-degree negligent homicide.
A 28-year-old Mountain View man who struck and killed an elderly bicyclist with a pickup truck late last year pleaded no contest Wednesday to first-degree negligent homicide.
Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura set sentencing for Siaiku Lucky Aholelei for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 13. In return for Aholelei’s plea, prosecutors dropped a manslaughter charge filed for the deadly Sept. 27 collision.
Two eyewitnesses said they saw Aholelei’s Mountain View-bound pickup truck cross the median on Volcano Highway (Highway 11) near Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii in Keaau, cross two lanes of oncoming traffic and strike 66-year-old Cenon Visaya, who was riding his bike on the shoulder in the Hilo direction. One of the witnesses testified in an Oct. 1 preliminary hearing it appeared Aholelei was “playing tag” with a woman driver of another black pickup truck, whom the witness said “proceeded to go on her merry way.”
Visaya was dead at the scene, police said.
Numerous family members were present to support Aholelei, who is free on bail. That includes Aholelei’s wife, whom he married in May, defense attorney Michael Green told the judge. Green asked Nakamura to grant Aholelei permission to travel to Las Vegas for a seven-day honeymoon.
“He understands the seriousness of what he’s facing,” Green said, noting Aholelei has been present for every court hearing.
Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Hashizaki objected “based on the nature of his current offense.”
“My inclination would be to deny the request,” the judge said, and instructed Green to file a written motion.
According to court records, Aholelei has 17 prior criminal convictions, including felony theft, felony assault and auto theft. He was convicted for DUI and reckless driving in 2008, and has been convicted of speeding three times since 2011.
A manslaughter conviction carries a possible 20-year prison sentence, while first-degree negligent homicide carries a possible 10-year prison term, although Aholelei might be exposed to possible extended sentences — which could double the sentence — because of his felony record, the judge indicated from the bench. Extended terms are rarely handed down, however. The 10-year term sought by prosecutors is a so-called “open 10,” and parole could be granted at some point.
Green said Nakamura has some discretion in sentencing in this case.
“The discretion is he gives (Aholelei) the open 10 and he goes to the parole board within four to six months and they set a mandatory minimum,” he said. “The judge can (also) give him 10 years probation and one year or 18 months (in jail). This is not an agreed-to open term, but it’s an open sentence and (Nakamura) can do what he wants to do.
“My sense is, because of (Aholelei’s) background, the likelihood is he’ll probably get the open 10. … It’s important because if he went to trial, he could get 40 years on the manslaughter charge, or he could get 20 years on the negligent homicide.”
Visaya’s death is the second traffic tragedy endured in a little more than a year by his family.
Visaya’s wife, 61-year-old Josefina Visaya was killed, as was 54-year-old Patrocinia Cadang of Keaau, when the van they were riding in was sideswiped and knocked down a 15-foot embankment by a pickup truck attempting to overtake them on Mamalahoa Highway (Highway 19) near Kalopa. The Sept. 10, 2012, crash also injured the six other people in the van, three of them critically.
“It’s still hard to move on,” Fred Visaya, the late couple’s son, said Wednesday.
The driver of the pickup truck in the Kalopa crash, 32-year-old Alfred Berdon III of Honokaa, pleaded not guilty June 25 to two counts each of first-degree negligent homicide, first-degree negligent injury and second-degree negligent injury.
Berdon, who also is represented by Green, a prominent Honolulu attorney, is free on $32,000 bail.
It took 20 months to obtain an indictment against Berdon because of toxicology tests and other investigation, county Prosecutor Mitch Roth said in June.
“It’s really sad,” said Rowena Visaya, Fred Visaya’s wife. “It’s too long, the wait.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.