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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 1:50 p.m., Wednesday, January 21, 2009

No jail time for driver who killed 2 teens, judge rules

By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer

Twenty-three-year-old Tiati Kane will serve no jail time for a 2006 automobile accident that killed two teenagers and injured a third, a District Court Judge ruled today.

Judge Rey Graulty cited Kane's history of serious psychiatric problems as well as allegations that she had been assaulted, robbed and "possibly raped" shortly before she drove her Chevrolet Caprice into a group of teenagers standing by the side of Kamehameha Highway Aug. 9, 2006, on O'ahu's North Shore.

Killed were Summer-Lynn Mau, 19, and Orem "Benson" Kauvaka, 16. They were in

a group of friends placing wreaths at the site of another fatal accident 14 hours earlier at the same site in which two other teenagers were killed.

The sentence from Graulty did not sit well with the parents of Mau.

"There are more rights for people who commit crimes than for the victims," said Shelly Mau.

"The justice system here needs to be changed," said Ross Mau.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katrina Ordonio had asked Graulty to sentence Kane to six months to a year in prison after she pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of third degree negligent homicide and one count of negligent injury.

Ordonio disputed Kane's story that she was fleeing after being assaulted by "three individuals" when the accident occurred. Authorities could not confirm those allegations, Ordonio said.

And the prosecutor said the findings of a court-appointed psychiatrist about Kane's mental condition were "unconfirmed and incomplete."

Kane cried during much of the hearing at Kane'ohe District Court, telling Graulty and members of the Mau and Kauvaka families, "I am truly sorry."

"How can I ask you to forgive me when I cannot forgive myself?" she said.

Graulty called the case a tragedy for everyone involved.

He placed Kane on probation for a year and ordered her to continue mental health treatment and psychiatric therapy "until clinically discharged."

She must pay $1,250 in fines as well as a yet-to-be-determined amount of restitution to the families of the victims.

"Miss Kane deserves our support to make sure it never happens again," he said.

Because the judge accepted what is called a "deferred acceptance of no contest" plea, the charges against her will be erased from her record if she stays out of further trouble with the law for a year.

The maximum sentence for the misdemeanor negligent homicide charges is one year in jail.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.