Trial for motorist in fatal 5-car wreck is set for October

A 22-year-old man charged with killing two people last year after speeding on Kunia Road and causing a five-car wreck is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 1 in Circuit Court.

An Oahu grand jury indicted Pulu Sese on July 19, charging him with two counts of negligent homicide.

Police said Sese caused the Jan. 1, 2011, crash that killed Jennifer Parsons, 42, of Wai­­anae and Samson Kautai, 12, of Kane­ohe. Sese was being held in Oahu Community Correctional Center in lieu of $50,000 bail.

He entered a plea of not guilty Thursday morning in Circuit Court via a closed-circuit videoconference call.

He was taken into custody Saturday after being arrested for allegedly shattering the glass window of a Kahala business during an argument with his girlfriend. His arraignment on the criminal property damage charge will be held Monday in Circuit Court.

He was served with the indictment for negligent homicide after his arrest Saturday, and authorities discovered there was an outstanding warrant against him.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins set Sese’s trial date on the negligent homicide charges for the week of Oct. 1 before Judge Dexter Del Rosario.

City prosecutors said Sese was speeding on Kunia Road and passing other vehicles when his car hit Parsons’ vehicle in the opposite lane of traffic. Sese’s car overturned, ejecting him and Kautai, who was a rear-seat passenger in the car.

Police calculated his car was traveling 78 mph in a 35 mph zone.

Kautai and Parsons died at the scene.

Police said the car Sese was trying to pass veered to the right, spun into the opposite lane of traffic and was hit broadside by a pickup truck. The car behind Parsons’ was hit by debris, veered to the right and struck a dirt embankment.

Sese was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center in critical condition. His other passengers — males ages 19, 17 and 14 — and the drivers of the pickup and the car Sese was trying to pass went to Queen’s in serious condition.

Sese’s blood-alcohol content was 0.08, which is the legal threshold for drunken driving.