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A Waianae man was sentenced Friday to one year in prison and given five years of probation for the death of his cousin in a one-car crash last year in Pearl City.
Under a plea agreement, Jamil B. Ballesteros will serve one year in jail. He also was fined $500 and had his driver’s license revoked for five years.
Police said Ballesteros was driving a car that crashed into a light pole at Kuala Street and Acacia Road on July 17, 2014. In June he was convicted of driving without a license and first-degree negligent homicide for the death of Nico Ballesteros, 22, who was a passenger in the car.
Defense attorney Paul Cunney told Circuit Court Judge Karen Ahn, "This was a very difficult situation that devastated two families."
Family members of both Jamil and Nico Ballesteros sat in the courtroom when the defendant apologized. They had sought no jail time in the case and told prosecutors the two were like brothers.
Cunney said Jamil Ballesteros graduated from a six-month Salvation Army drug rehabilitation program and continues to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
The crash left Nico Bal- lesteros, of Waialua, pinned inside the vehicle. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died the following day.
Jamil Ballesteros, who was 21 at the time of the crash, was taken by ambulance to the Queen’s Medical Center in serious condition.
During the trial, city prosecutors said that Jamil Ballesteros’ blood alcohol content was 0.15. The legal threshold for drunken driving is 0.08. Police also found open alcohol containers in the car. According to state court records, Ballesteros had five prior convictions for driving without a driver’s license, including one three months before the crash.
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