Andrew Delos Reyes and Jeremy Tolentino, both 18, and Anthony Alexander, 17, were passengers in the car Dade was driving when he lost control and crashed into an oncoming vehicle on Kaukonahua Road. The four Mililani High students were best friends. Only Dade survived.

"Those three guys were my everything. I am deeply sorry and I can't believe this happened," said Dade, speaking in court before he was sentenced. "It rips me apart that an accident so senseless took their lives and not mine. I am sorry for the grief and the pain that I caused, both physical and spiritual. Every day I burn in the fire that I lit."

Dade then turned to the families of the victims and apologized for the April 12, 2001, accident. His dull, lifeless expression did not change throughout the proceedings.

Evelyn and Sam Delos Reyes lost their 18-year-old son Andrew in the crash on Kaukonahua Road near Waialua. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Yesterday, Circuit Court Judge Dexter Del Rosario sentenced Dade, who was 18 at the time of the crash, to five years in prison for each of the three deaths. Del Rosario also ordered him to serve the sentences concurrently, meaning that the maximum term could be five years.

"If the very tragic events resulting from Mr. Dade's actions do not deter others, I don't think any sentence could," said Del Rosario before he ruled. "I have no answer on how to teach young people not to treat cars as toys."

Tension filled the courtroom yesterday as more than 20 relatives and friends of the victims waited for hearing, which was delayed because of a packed schedule. Before it started, the bailiff walked from bench to bench, placing a single box of tissue in the middle of each family.

Johnna Alexander, left, hugs Evelyn Delos Reyes after Brian Dade's sentencing. Alexander's brother Anthony, Delos Reyes' son Andrew and friend Jeremy Tolentino died in a 2001 car crash. Dade, the driver, received three five-year sentences, to be served concurrently. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Johnna Alexander, sister of Anthony Alexander, whispered her comments to the court between sobs. She said that her mother and father couldn't be in court because the pain of Anthony's death was too fresh. Instead, she spoke of a rascal young man who loved pig hunting and considered O'ahu's trails his back yard.

"For myself, I don't go a day without talking about him and missing him," she said. "There is no way any sentence can bring them back, no matter how long Brian Dade sits in jail."

Karen Saguibo, Jeremy Tolentino's aunt, calmly spoke about a young man who was the toast of the family, and loved to surf, play 'ukulele, and fix his VW bus. As she spoke, Jeremy's dad, John Tolentino, hugged his daughter, Michelle, who had to identify her brother's body the night he was killed.

"There is an unbearable sense of pain and suffering that family and friends will live with every day of their lives," she said. "Incarceration is mandatory and will give these families some sense of justice."

Dade had faced a maximum 25-year term.

He will go before the Hawai'i Paroling Authority sometime early next year to determine how long he must serve before he is eligible for parole.

Marrack asked Del Rosario for three five-year terms to be served consecutively. Deputy Public Defender Ken Shimozono, citing Dade's lack of a prior criminal record, the hardship imposed by the loss of his three best friends and the drowning death of his 2-year-old son last year, asked for probation.

Dade was driving his grandmother's blue, four-door 1999 Saturn from Mililani to Mokule'ia at 11:30 p.m. the night of the wreck.

The road leading to Mokule'ia, a popular gathering place for O'ahu youth, winds and bends and had been the site of four other traffic fatalities in the two months before Dade's accident. That night, Dade passed several cars, crossed the center line, struck a guardrail and smashed into an oncoming car, a maroon 1994 Saturn carrying a Mililani family of three, who survived.

Police said at the time that alcohol and speed were factors in the collision. Preliminary tests indicated all four boys in Dade's car may have consumed alcohol. None of the boys was wearing a seat belt.

At the time of his no-contest plea, prosecutor Marrack said Dade's alcohol level was not above the legal limit for adults, but that Dade was drinking under age.

At the time of the crash, police said they stepped up patrols in that area to deter speeders and drunken driving, but added that it was difficult to post officers there because the two-lane road is too narrow to pull anyone over.