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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Wednesday, June 12, 2002

Driver's trial nears in death of tourist

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

KEALAKEKUA, Hawai'i — Jury selection begins today in 3rd Circuit Court in the manslaughter trial of a man accused of running down a tourist who had stopped to read a sign at historic Hale Halewai O Holualoa Church on Ali'i Drive.

Police said Stephen St. Clair, 39, a former Kailua resident who now lives in Canada, allegedly had been drinking at nearby Holualoa Beach Park on Feb. 23 and gunned his 1982 GMC van while leaving the park.

The vehicle spun in a half-circle, crossing the center line and striking Jane O'Brien, 58, of Santa Barbara, Calif., who was standing on the paved shoulder on the makai side of the road. The van knocked O'Brien into a stone wall surrounding the church, pinning her briefly, and then slammed through the wall.

O'Brien's sister, Linda Cramer, 61, of Culpeper, Va., who was standing next to the victim, said the two women had just come back from a walk into town to do some shopping and were heading back to their condominium. They were looking at the sign to check for the time of Sunday services when, Cramer said, she heard the squeal of tires and turned to see the van speeding toward them. The sisters tried to run out the van's path, she said, but the vehicle hit O'Brien and narrowly missed Cramer.

St. Clair is charged with manslaughter, drunken driving, reckless driving, reckless endangering, failing to have auto insurance and driving left of center.

Family members and friends of the victim have publicly criticized a decision by a Big Island judge to release St. Clair while he awaits trial.