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Victim’s dad: ‘There are things that have to be paid’

Man sentenced to 10 years for crash that killed 3 men

James Jesse Walsh appears with his attorney Myles Breiner during his sentencing Wednesday in 2nd Circuit Court. The Maui News / LILA FUJIMOTO photos

WAILUKU — A man who admitted he was driving recklessly and under the influence of alcohol when he caused a traffic crash that killed three men in the back of a pickup truck was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison.

“I am truly sorry for the actions that I took that night and how it resulted,” James Jesse Walsh said, turning to the victims’ family members in the courtroom gallery. “There’s nothing I can do to change that. The only thing I can do is change the way that I live. Hopefully, I can touch some other people and change their lives, so maybe this won’t happen to someone else.”

Walsh, 27, of Pukalani had agreed to the prison sentence when he pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree negligent homicide for the collision at 9:33 p.m. June 20, 2015, on what was then Mokulele Highway.

Police said Walsh was driving a white Toyota pickup truck that was traveling north on the highway when it hit a Dodge pickup truck that was turning left from the highway into the Maui Raceway Park entrance. Waihee resident Tyree Kamaunu, 27, and Waiehu residents Eric Oguma, 51, and Howard Pruse Jr., 25, were thrown from the bed of the Dodge and died at the scene of the crash.

Police determined that Walsh’s truck was traveling at least 91 mph. His blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.159 percent, and he had detectable amounts of the main active ingredient of marijuana in his system, according to a police report.

Johanna Kamaunu, whose son Tyree was among three men killed in a traffic collision nearly five years ago, turns to address defendant James Jesse Walsh during his sentencing Wednesday in 2nd Circuit Court.

Walsh had been facing manslaughter charges before he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges in January after a jury had been impaneled for his trial.

The plea agreement, reached after consulting with the victims’ family members, allowed Walsh to remain free while awaiting sentencing so he could serve the community “in some meaningful way to reflect on this case,” said Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Martin.

He said Walsh chose organizations including his family church congregation. While it wasn’t what the victims’ families had hoped for or expected, “still the parties continued to discuss ways of healing both sides,” Martin said.

Defense attorney Myles Breiner said Walsh and his family wanted to meet with the victims’ families but attempts were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Walsh expressed remorse in a letter to the court, “what the families of the victims really are looking for goes beyond remorse,” Martin said.

“They’re looking for repentance,” he said. “It truly is the act of changing your mind, changing your thought processes for the better.

“It’s reflecting upon what you have done and the people you have harmed. It’s acknowledging the consequences that you’re going to face as a result of that.”

Martin said he was concerned that since the crash, Walsh had been cited for traffic offenses, including a ticket for speeding by going 62 mph in a 45-mph zone.

“This was no motor vehicle accident as he describes in his letter. This was a crash,” Martin said. “This was the result of intentional conduct of drinking to the point where he became impaired.

“Regardless of what he says today, he deserves to spend every single day of the next 10 years in prison.”

While Walsh, his parents and some of the victims’ family members were in the courtroom along with attorneys, others waited outside in the hallway or connected to the hearing by videoconference, as part of maintaining distancing in keeping with COVID-19 guidelines.

“No amount of apology, remorse, repentance is going to bring these people back,” Breiner said. “Four families have been tragically impacted by what happened that day.”

Walsh’s father, James, and mother, Debbie, said they had been praying for the victims’ families and others involved in the case.

“I don’t know why things transpired the way they transpired,” he said. “I don’t know why my kid walked away and some of your families didn’t. It was a horrible night.”

His mother said Walsh had made a “180-degree” change and with God’s help, had “thrown off what hinders him — drinking and drugs.”

Kaniloa Kamaunu, whose son Tyree was killed in the crash, said that unlike the other two families, “we were instructed not to view our son because the damage was so bad.”

“So it was hard,” he said.

When he last saw his son, “I only saw his feet,” Kamaunu said. “He was sleeping when I left that day. That’s the last picture I have of him.”

He described his son as “happy go lucky.”

“He had many friends,” Kamaunu said. “He would always give help to those that needed help. He was a person that like to have fun.”

Kamaunu said he helped persuade the others to agree to the plea deal that was reached.

Pruse’s father wasn’t in the courtroom gallery Wednesday.

“His heart is so broken that he’ll never get over it,” Kamaunu said.

Referring to Walsh, Kamaunu said, “Only God knows if he will change.” 

“We ask only for this little bit — 10 years. Ten years for him to have time to reflect,” Kamaunu said. “There are things you have to make amends for and sometimes only through hardship can the amends be made.

“He will still be a young man when he comes out.”

“I do not hate the Walshes. I wish them no bad,” Kamaunu said. “But there are things that have to be paid.”

Asked by 2nd Circuit Judge Peter Cahill to talk about a good memory of her son, Johanna Kamaunu recalled the time when Tyree was 6 years old and decided to run away with his 4-year-old sister.

He packed a six-pack of juice and a sheet in a backpack, and they left with their 3-year-old brother. She couldn’t find them, so her husband went outside.

“He whistled,” she said. “It didn’t take long, they all came home.”

When she asked her son why they had done that, he said it was because his sister wanted to go. “He didn’t want her to go by herself,” Kamaunu said.

The day of the crash, she had a flat tire and had tried calling others who weren’t available before calling her son. “He wasn’t available either” because he was going Upcountry, she said. But about 10 minutes later, he called back and said he could fix her tire, which he did.

“And that’s the last time we had seen him,” she said. “He had changed his plans for going Upcountry that day, and they stayed home and decided to go to Raceway Park instead.”

“This has not been easy for us,” she said. “I think I failed my son that night ’cause I couldn’t be there for him. I tried every way I could to get there, but even my friends in the Police Department wouldn’t let me go. It would be hours before they would come and tell us what we had already known, that he was gone.”

Their oldest son named their next child after his brother. “But over time, I learned from him that he has this fear, and he will not let his children go anywhere without him or his wife,” she said. “He says, ‘I can’t go through what you and Dad did. I can’t live through an experience like that.’ I don’t think anybody would know ahead of time you can do it, but you can.”

Addressing Walsh, she said that “it was the hardest thing for me to try to feel some forgiveness for what we experienced because of your actions.”

“But I knew that I couldn’t feel like this was complete until I could at least come to a semblance of forgiveness,” she said. “I knew that I had to at least feel that I was moving towards forgiveness by coming to an agreement on the settlement. But to be truthful, I don’t think I’m there on forgiveness yet. Because if you ask me if I could let him go without any punishment, I wouldn’t be able to say yes. I think a forgiving person might, so that’s not me.”

But Kamaunu said she believed that might change.

“So one day, Jesse, I think we’ll be able to do that,” she said. “I just don’t know if it’s today.

“I miss my son. If I worry too much or cry too much, I’m not going to feel him. I like to believe he’s with me today, and he’ll be happier knowing we’re coming to that stage of forgiveness.”

Judge Cahill followed the plea agreement in sentencing Walsh.

“Wounds heal, but the scar remains. It doesn’t go away,” Cahill said. “For the Pruse, Kamaunu and Oguma families, the scar will always be there.”

Cahill said he read about 50 letters submitted to the court on Walsh’s behalf.

“I was struck by the fact that in over 100 pages of letters, not once are Eric, Howard Jr. or Tyree identified by name,” Cahill said. “We’re not here because three people died. We’re here because Eric Oguma, Howard Pruse Jr. and Tyree Kamaunu died. That’s who died in this accident, not three people, not those people, not that group, not the people in the back of the pickup truck.”

Addressing Debbie Walsh’s comment that her son was going to prison for his involvement in an accident, Judge Cahill said: “Your son is not going to prison because he was involved in a motor vehicle accident. He’s going to prison because he committed a crime. You have to accept that. 

“Until you do, you will not get beyond the place you are,” Cahill said. “We do not send people to prison because of an accident. We sent them to prison because they have committed a crime.”

Walsh accepted his punishment, the judge said.

“The spiritual redemption is a different issue, and I believe Mr. Walsh accepts that as well,” Cahill said. “When he has served his sentence, he will be able to put himself in a position to continue to work on his spiritual redemption.”

Under the terms of the plea deal, Walsh agreed to serve the full 10 years in prison without being paroled. He was given credit for 17 days he previously spent in jail. His driver’s license was suspended for 12 years.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.

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