Ex-prosecutor Karamatsu charged with DUI
Jon Riki Karamatsu, a former state representative and former Honolulu deputy prosecutor, has been charged with driving under the influence.
State Attorney General Doug Chin said Thursday that Karamatsu is also charged with refusing to submit to testing. He was arrested April 4.
His arraignment is scheduled for May 1 in District Court in Honolulu.
Karamatsu declined to comment for legal reasons because the case is pending.
This is Karamatsu’s second arrest for driving under the influence.
He was arrested previously for drunken driving in 2007, when he was vice speaker of the House. He pleaded no contest. He was fined $750 and sentenced to 72 hours of community service.
Karamatsu became a deputy prosecutor after unsuccessfully running for lieutenant governor in 2010. He resigned as prosecutor after his latest arrest.
Hit-and-run driver injures moped rider
Police are asking the public to help in locating a hit-and-run driver who seriously injured a moped rider Tuesday.
The driver of a red Honda CRV was traveling south on Kilauea Avenue at 8:19 p.m. Tuesday when the vehicle turned left in front of a moped, which hit it broadside. The Honda then continued on to Pueo Street.
The moped rider suffered head and internal injuries and was taken to a hospital.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300, or *CRIME on a cellphone.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Plea deal bans Maui man from driving for life
WAILUKU » A Maui man will be prohibited from driving for the rest of his life as part of a plea deal in a crash that killed five of his friends and relatives.
Under a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, five counts of manslaughter against Libert Kuuipo Qalivere were reduced to first-degree negligent homicide. The 24-year-old from Pukalani pleaded no contest to the reduced charges Wednesday.
The 2012 crash on Kula Highway near Noholoa Street was the deadliest in more than two decades on Maui, The Maui News reported Thursday.
Qalivere’s blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit for driving when he drove the five passengers from a party, prosecutors said. He was driving a Dodge Neon erratically at more than 75 mph, prosecutors said.
All five passengers were ejected from the car after it collided with an oncoming car. They were Remington Taylor Redwell, 20, of Lahaina; Steven R. Shaw, 20, of Lahaina; Annastachia Cruz-Kalua, 19, of Pukalani; Ambrose "AJ" Momoa, 20, of Waiehu; and Karl Barrack, 20, of Pukalani.
Qalivere faces a maximum sentence of 51 years and 65 days in prison. Sentencing is set for June 12.
"There’s no winners here," said Shaw’s mother, Lorraine Smyth. "Taking his life away from him doesn’t bring back my son. I just know it’s between him and his heart."
Flowers and native plants adorn a memorial that still exists near the crash site, she said.
"This is huge for the community," she said. "It was a series of bad choices that ended very badly, and I think that it’s a reminder for anybody who gets in a car with a driver who’s intoxicated that this can happen."
