Jury finds Arakawa guilty
| • | Ambrose parents thank community for support |
| • | Police praised for work on case |
| • | Former officer had moved to Oregon for retirement |
| • | Ambrose was in college, had sights on career in art |
| • | What do you think of the verdict in the Clyde Arakawa case? Join our discussion |
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
The jury who found former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa guilty of manslaughter yesterday in the traffic death of 19-year-old Dana Ambrose never considered — even for a moment — acquitting him or finding him guilty of a lesser charge, according to the jury foreperson.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
May Shim said there were no heated debates over Arakawa's guilt or innocence and that the jury took about a day and a half to reach the guilty verdict primarily because of the complexity of the case.
Former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa was taken to jail after being convicted of manslaughter in the death of 19-year-old Dana Ambrose.
She said many jurors were confused by the testimony of two sets of expert witnesses, with one set testifying on behalf of the prosecution and the other in Arakawa's defense.
The prosecution's experts said Arakawa, now 50, was drunk and speeding up Pali Highway late Oct. 7, 2000, when he ran a red light at the School Street intersection moments before his car plowed into Ambrose's much smaller car as it was crossing on School Street.
The expert witnesses called by the defense maintained just the opposite, saying it was Ambrose who was speeding and ran a red light.
Shim said in the end, nine women and three men went with gut instinct in concluding the prosecution's experts were more credible than those who testified on behalf of the defense.
In finding Arakawa guilty of manslaughter that carries a maximum 20-year sentence, the panel rejected options of convicting him on lesser negligent homicide charges that carry sentences ranging from one year to 10 years behind bars.
The Arakawa case caused a public uproar, not only because of the death, alcohol and the involvement of a police officer, but also because of the way the case was handled.
Police Chief Lee Donohue acknowledged Arakawa received "courtesies" at the collision scene not given to others. Last month, six officers were disciplined for their handling of the case, said Tenari Ma'afala, the police union president.
"This case shows that just because someone is in law enforcement, they won't be treated any differently," Carlisle said. "We lose more people every year to drunk driving than we do to guns and knives."
Maximum sentence
Carlisle said he will ask Circuit Judge Karen Ahn to impose the full 20-year term when Arakawa is sentenced April 22, although it will be up to the Hawaii Paroling Authority to decide how much time he will actually have to serve.
Clyde Arakawa's sentence
Under Hawai'i law, Circuit Judge Karen Ahn will have two options when she sentences former police officer Clyde Arakawa for his manslaughter conviction April 22:
•
A 20-year prison term, or
•
Probation and up to a year in jail.
If sentenced to prison, the Hawai'i Paroling Authority will determine when to release Arakawa on parole.
Arakawa was ordered held without bail yesterday. He will be given credit for the time he serves behind bars pending the sentencing.
Arakawa, who did not testify during the three-week trial, showed no emotion when the verdict was read. He turned and shook hands with his lawyer Michael Ostendorp, who said he plans to appeal the verdict, but could not immediately say on what grounds.
"He was thanking me for all of my work," Ostendorp said.
Arakawa had been free on $75,000 bail, but Ahn granted a request by city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle that he be taken immediately into custody to await sentencing.
Carlisle told Ahn that because Arakawa was found guilty, there was no longer a presumption of innocence and that he wanted to protect the community from Arakawa and vice versa.
But Ostendorp told Ahn that Arakawa should be released on bail to await sentencing based on "his 25 years of service to this community as a police officer."
"What evidence is there before this court that he is a flight risk?" Ostendorp asked.
He asked that Arakawa be allowed to remain free on bail so that he could retrieve his belongings from the hotel room where he stayed during the trial and take care of closing out his household affairs in Oregon. Arakawa moved from Hawai'i after he retired from the Honolulu Police Department within weeks after the fatal crash.
But Ahn canceled Arakawa's $75,000 bail and ordered him held.
The trial drew packed courtrooms with relatives of both Ambrose and Arakawa in the gallery.
Parents react
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Arakawa's parents, Hideo and Aiko, left the courthouse declining to comment on the verdict, although Arakawa's mother mumbled a yes when asked if she thought the trial was unfair.
Susan Ambrose, mother of victim Dana Ambrose, thanks City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle after the jury found former Honolulu police officer Clyde Arakawa guilty of manslaughter.
Dana Ambrose's mother, Susan, shed tears of relief moments after the verdict was announced. Dana Ambrose's father, Rod, and brother, Nik, remained impassive as the verdict came down.
"I think that we really want to extend our gratitude to the people of Hawai'i, to the jurors and the prosecutors," said Susan Ambrose. "This is a fight we fought for our daughter as well as the community."
Manslaughter convictions for traffic fatalities are rare here. Drivers responsible for deaths are usually charged with negligent homicide.
But Carlisle, who personally handled the prosecution, attributed the manslaughter verdict to the jurors' understanding what he said was a critical piece of evidence — Arakawa's 1992 conviction on a trespassing charge after he was found asleep — or passed out — on the floor of a stranger's house in Kailua after a night of drinking.
The 1992 conviction meant that Arakawa was aware of what could happen as a result of his drinking and that he showed a "conscious disregard of the risks" by having 11 beers and a shot of hard liquor during the seven hours leading up to the crash that killed Ambrose, Carlisle said during the trial.
Jury forewoman Shim yesterday said the jury spent much of the deliberations discussing whether Arakawa's actions the night of the crash were "reckless" under state law and whether his actions in the hours leading up to the crash showed a "conscious" disregard for the risks involved in drinking heavily throughout the evening and then driving.
"We mostly concentrated on 'reckless' since we got a whole page of jury instructions with the word 'reckless' in there," Shim said.
Infamous cases
The last traffic manslaughter conviction here involved James Steinseifer, who received a 20-year sentence for his guilty pleas to the 1997 deaths of two sisters and their 1-year-old niece on Farrington Highway in Kapolei, said Jim Fulton, city prosecutor spokesman.
Hawai'i's most infamous traffic case involved Bucky Lake, who killed five people in June 1988 when his car slammed head-on into a van filled with tourists near Makapu'u. Lake was charged with murder, but convicted of lesser counts of manslaughter and given a 10-year prison term, then the maximum sentence for manslaughter.
During Arakawa's trial, Ostendorp produced witnesses to testify that because Arakawa was an "experienced drinker" with a "practiced liver," he could filter out the alcohol from his body faster than an average person and was not legally drunk at the time of the collision.
But the so-called "resilient liver defense," Carlisle said, "flew in the face of common sense."
"It just doesn't make sense to say someone is a good driver because they are a good drinker," Carlisle said.
Carlisle said he was especially angered by an insinuation Ostendorp made during his closing argument that Ambrose might have been high on Ecstasy or other street drugs at the time of crash.
No drugs in victim
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
The prosecutor said the Ambrose autopsy report included screening for street drugs and none was found.
Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, left, and defense attorney Michael Ostendorp, far background, argue about Clyde Arakawa's bail. The judge canceled Arakawa's bail and ordered him held.
"I was pleased that the jury saw through all of that," Carlisle said.
He said he chose not to object when Ostendorp made the drug assertion "because I thought it would work against him overall."
"Objecting might, in some way, have made it look like we were trying to hide something about Dana's past," Carlisle said. "I did not want, in any way, to validate an absolutely bald-faced fraud."
"I mean," the prosecutor said, "they deliberately kept out (of the trial), and probably appropriately so, evidence as to her good character.
"But once you find out about this young woman, you realize she had a re- ... you know ..." Carlisle was speechless for a few seconds, his eyes moist.
Then he resumed, in a strong voice, "... a remarkably bright future.
"And it's a shame to see that go," Carlisle said, regaining his composure.
Ostendorp called the verdict "a sad day for justice in Hawai'i."
Ostendorp said several jurors made it clear when they were questioned before the trial began that they had strong feelings, based on media reports, about Arakawa's guilt, but were allowed to serve on the jury after saying they could put their feelings aside.
"I'm very disappointed with the verdict because it does not reflect the evidence in the case," Ostendorp said.
MADD's response
Yvonne Nelson, president of the Hawai'i Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter, said the manslaughter conviction "sends a clear message that Hawai'i will not tolerate drinking and driving."
But the Arakawa case also suggests Hawai'i's alcohol breath and blood test laws still may not be strong enough, she said.
Carol McNamee, founder of the chapter and now a member of the national MADD board, said a lack of clarity in Hawai'i law requiring such tests in fatal or serious injury collisions may be letting too many drunken drivers through a loophole.
Only 25 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes are tested for alcohol at the time of the crash, while the rest are allowed to walk away, McNamee said. Many other states are far more successful in testing blood alcohol levels in such cases.
Under the law in effect at the time of the accident in October 2000, Arakawa was not required to take a blood or breath test at the time of the crash.
Advertiser staff writers Walter Wright and Mike Gordon contributed to this report.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
