DUI crash costs driver 10 years, best friend's life
by John Burnett
Stephens Media
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 6:50 AM HST
HILO -- A 25-year-old Hilo man was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for the fatal crash that killed his best friend.Stephens Media
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 6:50 AM HST
Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara ordered Nivan N. Agres to start serving his sentence -- the maximum for negligent homicide -- immediately.
Agres was driving a 1995 Honda 4-door sedan east on Kalanianaole Avenue in Keaukaha at about 11:30 p.m. Jan. 27, 2008, when he lost control of the car. The vehicle ran off the right side of the road and hit a telephone pole near Kolea Street.
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Agres, who had three prior DUI convictions, had a blood-alcohol level of .249, according to Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville. Charges of DUI, driving with a revoked license and driving without insurance were dropped in return for his no-contest plea.
Agres' attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jennifer Wharton, said Agres has since completed a Big Island Substance Abuse Council program and is involved with Alcoholics Anonymous. She noted many positive letters written on her client's behalf, said he speaks to youth groups about the dangers of drinking and driving, and that the community would be best served by granting Agres probation.
"It's unfortunate that Nivan was an alcoholic, is an alcoholic, and that it got to this point," Wharton said. "But we would be asking your honor to let the community benefit from Nivan's ... experience that has changed his life, and many others, unfortunately, and allow him to continue to make retribution by paying back to the community."
Wharton said that Young had been told to "go away" by his family, and that Agres had provided family and a place to live for Young. That elicited a tearful exclamation of "She's a liar!" by Young's mother, Cathy, who exited the packed courtroom briefly before returning.
Damerville cited Agres' history of drunken driving.
"I don't know any other case where the defendant is more deserving of a 10-year prison term than this one," Damerville said. "The fact that he is turning his life around now, wonderful. But tell it to the parole board. The appropriate sentence in this case is prison."
Cathy Young told the judge the past two years have been hard for her family.
"We lost our only son," she said. And even though we know it was an accident, I feel that when you take someone into your car, you're responsible for their safety. And Nivan was ... drinking and speeding. And I'm just asking that he get the 10 years."
Agres, who stood stock-still throughout, declined to make a statement.
Hara said it was "a difficult case for a court to render sentence."
"You have a high appreciation of the fact that things could have been very, very different that night," the judge said. "It could have been you that died. It could have been David ... and it's just a matter of fate that it happened that way."
In passing sentence, Hara said the need to punish Agres and to deter others outweighed any consideration of rehabilitation.
"When this accident happened, it appears to me that you were a walking time bomb," he said. "The only question was when it was going to happen. ... Unfortunately, it caused your best friend's death."
Afterward, Cathy Young said that she still feels sad but is "glad he got the 10 years."
"I think it will help him in the long run," she said.
Agres' oldest brother, Clyde Agres Jr., who served time in the 1990s for reckless endangering and possessing a loaded firearm, said: "There is nothing about prison that will help Nivan."
Wharton, who took the sentence hard, said: "I don't ever want another case like that."
"The judge told us many, many times he's gonna go to prison," she noted. "We knew he was. But you never give up hope. There really wasn't anything that would change his mind. You know, the past condemned Nivan."
Damerville said it's time to crack down on drunkenness, whether driving is involved or not, because of family abuse, assaults and other societal ills fueled by alcohol.
"There is a lot of community damage that comes from drinking to excess, over and beyond just drinking and driving," he said. "Sometimes we send a message 'don't drink and drive,' and people take it to mean it's OK to drink, just don't drive. It's not OK to drink to the point of intoxication, I'm sorry. It just causes a tremendous amount of community damage."
E-mail John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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realityvoice wrote on Mar 15, 2010 9:26 AM: