MEDIA RELEASE
From the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney
Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Jay Kimura announced that on June 4, 2010, Kona Judge Elizabeth Strance sentenced Liko Asing to concurrent prison sentences of 10 years for the Negligent Homicide in the First Degree death of Thomas Kapena Keliinohomoku, to 5 years for Negligent Injury in the First Degree to Jeremiah Kaluau, to 5 years for recklessly endangering a minor and 5 days for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
The Hawaii State Parole Board will determine the minimum amount of time the defendant must serve before he is considered for parole.
The defendant pled guilty to the offenses which resulted from a high speed Kona chase on Route 19 the early morning hours April 6, 2008. The truck driven by Liko Asing flipped and crashed near the 95 mile marker.
Passenger Keliinohomoku, called “Pena” by his friends, was 19 years old and was killed at the scene.
Passenger Kaluau suffered a spine fracture. The defendant, currently 27 years old, broke his back and is confined to a wheelchair with paraparesis.
Witnesses said the defendant was driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour. Tests done at the time confirmed that the defendant was intoxicated and had cocaine and marijuana in his system at the time he lost control of his truck which landed in the adjacent lava field.
The courtroom was crowded with friends and family of both the defendant and Pena. Judge Strance, in rejecting a request for probation and instead sentencing the defendant to prison, said that the defendant had to be held accountable for his “reckless behavior.”
In imposing a prison sentence, the court considered several factors, including risk to the community and the need to make “meaningful change” to curb that risk. The judge commented on the general concern of many area residents who do not want to drive island roads because of deaths that have been caused by reckless driving that is, more often than not, combined with drinking and drugging.
The judge said negligent homicide is not just an accident: “It is a decision to drink; it is a decision to do drugs and it is a decision to drive.”
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Joyce Seelen, had requested the prison sentence citing the defendant’s apparent rage while chasing another truck, combined with the danger caused by ingestion of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.
She argued the defendant, who had been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol once before, be held accountable for the death and injury that he had caused.
Defendant’s attorney, William Harrison, had requested the defendant be placed on probation. The indictment in the criminal case was returned in August of 2008, 4 months after the homicide.
Multiple delays requested by the defendant continued both scheduled trials and sentencing.