VOLCANIC ASH

By David Shapiro

James Steinseifer was the first offender tried under Hawai'i's tougher manslaughter law for traffic fatalities, and Honolulu prosecutors made him an example in their crackdown on drunken driving.

Steinseifer has since made himself an example of how to take responsibility for wrongdoing, make amends where possible and learn from a tragic mistake to lead a purposeful life.

He'll find out how much remorse and rehabilitation count when the Parole Board this month makes its first review of his minimum sentence after eight years in prison.

On Jan. 7, 1997, Steinseifer had blood alcohol of four times the legal limit — the equivalent of 14 drinks — when he crashed his car head-on into another vehicle on Farrington Highway near Kapolei, killing sisters Nicole Nuuanu-Dudoit, 22, andÊCarina Nuuanu, 24, and their 1-year-old niece, Laakea Nuuanu.

The Legislature had just increased the penalty for vehicular manslaughter from 10 years to 20 years to life, and Prosecutor Peter Carlisle applied the new law to Steinseifer, finding the crime especially egregious because of the number of deaths and Steinseifer's conviction for drunken driving 12 years earlier.

"This is a point-blank warning shot at anybody who drinks and drives," Carlisle said.

True to his word, he's since won manslaughter convictions in other traffic fatalities involving drunken driving, highlighting the problem and giving life to the concept of designated drivers.

Steinseifer, 33 when convicted, distinguished himself by his response.

While other offenders have ducked accountability by fleeing the scene or falsely blaming victims, Steinseifer took full responsibility for his actions and received the consequences without complaint.

Not wanting to put the Nuuanu family through a trial, the Farrington High graduate pleaded guilty to manslaughter rather than fight for lesser charges.

He expressed deep remorse for the lives he had taken and accepted then-Circuit Judge James Aiona Jr.'s imposition of Hawai'i's stiffest sentence ever for vehicular manslaughter, 20 years — double what Bucky Lake got for a 1988 drunken-driving collision that killed five people.

Carlisle had pushed for a life sentence, but the Nuuanu family told the court thatÊ20 years was enough.

"The family didn't believe in their hearts that another life should be wasted," said their attorney, Stephen Teves.

Steinseifer took their words to heart and worked to build a life that wouldn't be wasted, even in prison.

He's been a model inmate at prisons in three states, receiving high ratings in every job assignment.

He's chaired alcoholic recovery groups and immersed himself in counseling young people to avoid his mistakes. He's pursuing a university degree and had a 4.0 grade-point average through his first 24 credits.

"This young man has totally turned his life around under the most difficult circumstances," said his former employer, Bob Warren, who hopes the Parole Board will reduce Steinseifer's minimum sentence, originally set at 15 years.

Warren said Steinseifer, who worked for him as an ad salesman, has met all criteria usually considered for early release — acceptance of responsibility, sincere remorse, proof of rehabilitation and benefit to society.

Carlisle believes Steinseifer must serve "at least in the double-digits" — more than the 10-year maximum of the old law — if the new law is to have teeth in deterring drunken driving as the Legislature intended.

" 'I'm sorry' gets you only so far," he says.

That's a fair concern; accountability must be served.

But it also serves an important public purpose to encourage individual responsibility by offering redemption to truly contrite offenders who make something of their lives.

Steinseifer doesn't have to remain in prison for much more than the 10 years to achieve both purposes.

David Shapiro, a veteran Hawai'i journalist, can be reached by e-mail at dave@volcanicash.net.