Man admits responsibilty for fatal Waimanalo crash
By Eloise Aguiar and David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writers
A 21-year-old Waimanalo man pleaded guilty to manslaughter yesterday in the Jan. 2, 2001, head-on collision that killed Lorrie Ann Wiley, a case that was nearly dropped 10 months ago for lack of evidence.
Kam K. Williams drank with friends at a nightclub until 4 a.m. and was driving a friend's car home when he apparently fell asleep, causing the car to drift across the center line and collide with a car driven by Wiley, his lawyer, Jonathan Burge, said in court yesterday as Williams stood alongside.
"He was fairly intoxicated at the bar," Burge said. "He doesn't remember anything but driving there and waking up in the hospital."
Burge told Circuit Judge Michael Town that a blood test taken at a hospital shortly after the 5:25 a.m. collision showed Williams' blood alcohol content to be 0.201. Under state law, a person with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is deemed to be driving under the influence of alcohol.
At the time of the accident, Williams' license was suspended for a prior drunken driving conviction.
"He just wants to take responsibility — he feels terrible about what happened," Burge told Town.
The plea brought relief to Wiley's family, who thought all along that it was a simple case but were dismayed to learn early this year that everything was unraveling.
It was January when police told David Wiley, Lorrie Ann's husband, that they had no evidence or witnesses to place Williams behind the wheel of the other car involved in the collision. Normally, police could have gone back to the car for fingerprints or blood evidence, but the vehicle had not been seized and had since been been destroyed.
The investigation was renewed following a story in The Advertiser, leading to a new witness and an indictment, to which Williams pleaded not guilty in April.
So the Wiley family was surprised to learn that Williams had changed his plea to guilty.
"It appears like he's taking a first step in accepting responsibility," said David Wiley. "It looks like he's trying to do the right thing and that's encouraging. But to be honest my wife's life is forever gone, and I'm going to try to impress that on the judge at the time of the sentencing."
If sentenced as an adult, Williams faces a maximum term of 20 years and a $50,000 fine. But Burge indicated he may seek to have Williams sentenced under a section of state law that pertains to youthful offenders, in which case the maximum allowable sentence would be eight years. Wiliams was 19 at the time of the crash.
The judge also has the option of sentencing Williams to up to a year in jail and placing him on probation.
Williams was allowed to remain free on bail and ordered to return to court at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 24 for sentencing.
Ben Marquez, Lorrie Ann Wiley's cousin, said he thinks Williams should go to jail for 18 years, the minimum sentence handed down to former police officer Clyde Arakawa, who also drank for hours at a bar before heading home and killing 19-year-old Dana Ambrose in an October 2000 collision.
"It's similar circumstances; he was a repeat offender," Marquez said.
The 32-year-old Wiley served in the Air National Guard and was on her way to work at Hickam Air Force Base when she was killed near Olomana Golf Course. She also is survived by her 7-year-old daughter, Kayla; mother, Lorenza Macanas; and brother, Robert Rudy Macanas.
The Wiley family has filed a civil lawsuit against Williams, Venus Nite Club and Pachinko Karaoke, claiming that the nightclubs served alcohol to Williams, a minor, even after he was visibly intoxicated.
Richard Fried, attorney for the Wiley family, said Williams' testimony will be helpful to the case because the bars insist that he was never there.
"All we want him to do is come forward and tell the truth," said Fried.
Lorenza Macanas, 64, said she cries every time she passes the accident location. Once surrounded by her entire family, now her daughter is gone and her son-in-law and granddaughter have moved away.
"I'm depressed; I'm lonely; I stay home," Macanas said.
Robert Macanas, 43, said he knows it's time to move forward with his life, but there is still one thing he wants from Williams.
"I want to hear him say sorry," Robert Macanas said. "He never said he was sorry."
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
