State invokes Kaulana’s Law in Mokuleia hit-and-run

City prosecutors are applying for the first time a new state law that allows judges to double the sentence of a driver convicted of first-degree negligent homicide for also fleeing.

The case involves a hit-and-run crash in Mokuleia in September.

Prosecutors had previously filed felony negligent homicide and failure-to-render-aid charges against 39-year-old Jeremy Lee. They refiled the charges Tuesday in state Circuit Court invoking what’s known as Kaulana’s Law.

The law, which took effect July 1, allows state judges to double to 20 years the maximum sentence of a driver convicted of first-degree negligent homicide and who also did not remain at the scene to render reasonable assistance to an injured person.

Gov. David Ige signed what was then known as Kaulana’s Bill in a ceremony in Nanakuli in June at the site where 19-year-old former Kamehameha Schools football player Kaulana Werner was struck and killed by a car while walking on the side of Farrington Highway in 2016.

Myisha Lee Armitage is charged with first-degree negligent homicide, for causing Werner’s death by operating a vehicle while drunk, and for fleeing the scene. Her trial is scheduled for the first week of January.

There is at least one other first-degree negligent homicide hit-and-run case city prosecutors charged after July 1 but that was for an incident that happened in 2017.

In the Mokuleia case, police said Lee struck and killed 76-year-old Dr. Eugene Chin on Sept. 30 as Chin was walking his dog along Farrington Highway near Dillingham Airfield. The driver fled, and police located but did not arrest a possible suspect 1.5 miles away. Police arrested Lee earlier this month after they said witnesses identified him as the driver.