Mother forgives woman who ran over motorcyclist on freeway
PHOTO BY DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Chantel Andrade cries as she listens to Judge Dean Ochiai during her sentencing hearing in Circuit Court today. Donovan Odo, her public defender is at her side on the left.
PHOTO BY DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
An emotional Sharon Jantoc, the mother of Keith Jantoc, with his brother, Kyle Jantoc leave the courtroom after sentencing for Chantel Andrade, who ran over Keith Jantoc and fled the scene.
The mother of a motorcyclist dragged and killed on the H-1 freeway last year was in state court today, giving the woman who ran him over her forgiveness.
A state judge sentenced Chantel Andrade, 40, to a maximum 10-year-prison term for leaving the scene of the fatal accident that took the life of Keith Jantoc.
“I just wish you would have stopped and helped him like you would want me to do if I did this to your child,” Sharon Jantoc told Andrade, who didn’t stop or slow down after hitting Jantoc on April 15.
Instead, she continued driving, dragging his motorcycle under her sport utility vehicle for nearly a half-mile just east of the Kunia on-ramp. She later abandoned the SUV in a Pearl City parking lot. Police found the vehicle with front end damage and motorcycle parts stuck in its grill.
Keith Jantoc, 25, died from blunt force injuries to his head, neck and torso. He was wearing a helmet.
Andrade in November pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and to driving without a valid driver’s license.
She apologized Tuesday, telling Sharon Jantoc, “I thank you for forgiving me because I haven’t forgiven myself yet.”
Circuit Judge Dean Ochiai told Andrade that her words of apology rang hollow based on her recent actions. He was scheduled to sentence Andrade in January but postponed the sentencing to allow her to complete a residential substance abuse treatment program.
Ochiai moved up the sentencing to Tuesday because Andrade was kicked out of the residential treatment program. “I would have given you a much (lower) sentence,” if the program had been completed, he told her.
Deputy Prosecutor Wayne Tashima told Ochiai that Andrade admitted that she smoked marijuana and drank alcohol daily and had smoked methamphetamine just hours before hitting Jantoc.
He said Andrade initially told police she was at home at the time of the crash, got her landlord to unknowingly lie for her and tried to blame the crash on her boyfriend. Tashima said Andrade later admitted to police that she lied, accused Jantoc of road rage, said she couldn’t stop in time when Jantoc cut in front of her, didn’t know the motorcycle was caught under her SUV and continued driving because her boyfriend, who was a passenger, told her not to stop.
Tashima said the boyfriend told police Andrade ignored his pleas for her to stop and call police. He said another passenger told police that after entering the freeway at the Kunia on ramp, Andrade started driving at a speed that scared her. Using data retrieved from the SUV’s “black box,” Tashima said Honolulu police calculate that the vehicle was traveling 88-91 mph five seconds before impact.
“This means the defendant drove the distance of a football field, including end zones, before hitting Keith,” he said.
Donovan Odo, Andrade’s lawyer, told Ochiai that both Andrade and Jantoc were driving erratically and irresponsibly. He said there are witnesses who saw Jantoc cross over three lanes of traffic before the crash.
36 responses to “Mother forgives woman who ran over motorcyclist on freeway”
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wow what a long list of lame excuses.
What’s somewhat buried in this story and what troubles me the most is the implied timidity (or cowardice, if your mind works that way) of Andrade’s boyfriend and “another passenger” in the SUV that fateful night. Were there good reasons neither of them turned Andrade in to the cops as soon as they possibly could? History fails to record either of them attempting to make even a free 911 call from a pay phone to report the accident and Andrade’s role as the driver. Did they themselves have serious criminal pasts that caused them to hesitate? Did the (unsaid and unproven) possible use of illicit drugs or alcohol impair their personal sense of responsibility or civic obligation? Or is it as simple as three friends bound by some misplaced sense of loyalty? Not that the true answer matters to Keith Jantoc who’s dead and gone, but I do wonder just how often and how close ordinary people come to aiding and abetting serious crimes.
The reporter forgot one little tidbit….but a very KEY tidbit to his story: this lady not only drove away after dragging this guy for a long distance, she tried to escape to the Big Island where she was captured and brought back to Oahu. Kind of a major point, don’t you think? And here we have the judge telling this person in court that he would have given her a “much (lower) sentence” had she only completed her drug treatment program. Huh?
Way too much meth. She won’t tell the truth, even to herself, as a meth user. It is another terrible, very preventable tragedy. We need to get meth off our streets.
10 years is a LONG time to think about it! Sad for both sides…
Actually that is short if her intention was to run over and kill the motorcyclist. There is no concrete proof like a recorded conversation and no one can look into this woman’s mind but even after getting caught and convicted, she has absolutely no remorse for killing someone except to say what her attorney told her to say and shed crocodile tears in court.
Even the victim’s mother said she did not agree with the manslaughter charge……she felt the killer should have been charged with a more serious crime.
Oh that’s nice that the victims mom could forgive her but I wouldn’t. These drug users and criminals always cry when the judge slams the hammer. They all act tough but in the end they all end up crying. They’ll get their second chance when they get release then we can judge if they take advantage of getting out and doing something productive in their life. My day was “if you cannot do the time don’t do the crime”.
“Crocodile tears” is a very good summary. I thought meth makes you skinny? I guess the pakalolo in between hits caused some serious munchies.
I only wish they would force prisoners that were charged with murder to become mandatory organ donors. It sure would help many on organ waiting lists rather than waste funds feeding and sheltering them with our tax funds.
Not eligible if they are drug users or addicts. If you had read the article before making an ignorant comment you would know this.
Sorry bull, not every one is a bonified okole-puka like you. You smartness!
Hitting someone and then dragging him for that long— manslaughter or was it murder? Lucky it happened in such a liberal state as Hawaii.
What’s the name of her BF?
It really takes a spiritually strong and loving person to be able to forgive someone who killed her son. The woman Andrade, who committed the senseless act, didn’t even have the character to finish her “residential treatment program”. You would think she would have been remorseful and motivated enough at this point to complete the program but failed to do so, yet the mother of the stricken motorcyclist still forgave her. Just can’t figure people like that out, but I admire the mother Jantoc for her act of forgiveness. I don’t know if I could do the same.
You and me both akkman.
Unless you’ve experienced real hatred, deep seated hatred you will not know how much energy it takes to hate someone. It uses up all of your energy and saps you of your life. It literally kills you inside and kills your soul. Forgiveness frees one from pain and from the agony. I know, because I forgave someone who tormented me for much of my life. It was definitely a game changer and I commend the mother of the victim for forgiving.
WOW, very well said. I am sorry it is from personal experience.
I appreciate your kind words, Aomoha.
I’m sorry for misspelling your name– aomohoa
No remorse as drugs always takes priority.
My heart aches for Sharon Jantoc and her ohana. Forgiveness takes strength and when your intention is sincere, your forgiveness will be your freedom. This must have been hard for her, but I say God Bless you Sharon Jantoc.
God Bless the Jantoc family and God Bless the Andradae family.
And if you look up her name in the State JIMS website, she has choke no insurance and no license citations. In and out and in and out of jail over and over again!
VILE ANIMAL! I’m hoping something bad happens to her while locked up, REAL BAD. This dirty animal deserves the same fate as the person she killed, period, end of story.
I’ll wager that Andrade will be on work release program in less than five years…..
Yes, you have the right of it.
Cheee…..you tink dat long???
Too bad the judge couldn’t give her a longer sentence. She deserves to serve the entire sentence – no probation, please!!!!
Ten years for leaving the scene, how much for killing the cyclist?
Personally, I would not have been able to forgive Ms. Andrade. Taking a step back…so many people were negatively affected by Ms. Andrade’s actions. What makes it even more difficult to accept is Ms. Andrade was enrolled and kicked out of substance abuse program, which supposedly contributed to last November’s incident(?) Are there more convictions that would have incarcerated Ms. Andrade and taken her off the streets?…just wondering. Regardless, I am very impressed by the compassion exhibited by Mrs. Jantoc.
10 years for murder
To the Mom…you are a much better person than I to forgive Andrade for what she did to your son and lied to everyone with lame excuses to cover it up. I know hate is not a good place to be, but if that were my son or daughter on the bike, I would find it hard to forgive. 10yrs for what she did is crazy. The Prosecutor is weak.
her crocodile tears.
You really can get away with murder. Probably be out in 5 years. Life is cheap to say the least.
What’s more amazing is that the judge said he was going to give her a much lower sentence had she completed her treatment program.
Kaneohe, what the judge said is moot. I’d look at it like rubbing salt in the criminal’s wound, no matter what the judge had in mind. If my son was the victim, I’d try to forgive her. If I didn’t, it’d ruin and shorten my life. I know, easy to say but hard to do.