A 20-year-old Hilo man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Thursday morning to negligent homicide for causing a crash that killed his passenger in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park one year ago.

Julien T. Quiocho pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with the prosecutor that calls for a two-year prison term. If U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra imposes a stiffer sentence in September, Quiocho will be free to withdraw his guilty plea.

The maximum prison term for first-degree negligent homicide is 10 years.

The case is being handled in U.S. District Court because the federal government has jurisdiction in the park.

Federal prosecutor Michael Song said Quiocho was behind the wheel of a pickup truck on Highway 11 on June 12, 2011, when the truck left the roadway and crashed into a lava field. Quiocho and his passenger, 20-year-old Bryson Areola, also of Hilo, were ejected from the vehicle.

Areola was pronounced dead at Hilo Medical Center.

Quiocho was transported to the Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu in critical condition with head and spinal injuries.

Song said blood taken from Quiocho at the hospital had an alcohol content of 0.13. It is unlawful for anyone with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher to operate a vehicle.

Quiocho said he doesn’t remember what happened.

"However, after reviewing the facts, I do not dispute that I was the driver and I was drinking," he said.