The 46-year-old man arrested in the Feb. 15 hit-and-run collision that killed a McKinley High School student pleaded no contest Wednesday to driving without a valid driver’s license on Jan. 5, just six weeks prior to the fatal incident.
Mitchel Miyashiro, who has never served any time despite his receiving citations for 164 traffic violations and crimes, could face up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine when he is sentenced for the misdemeanor.
Honolulu District Judge Thomas Haia accepted his no-contest plea and waiver of his right to a trial. However, rather than set sentencing, the judge agreed to a request by his lawyer, Rick Sing’s, for a pre-sentencing investigation.
Sing said he was unavailable on dates suggested by the court in November and December, so Haia agreed to a return date of Jan. 10. The judge said that because it was not a felony, the presentencing report could take up to 90 days to complete, so he would set the hearing after the 90-day period.
The judge asked Miyashiro whether he was promised anything in return for his plea, to which Miyashiro said “No.”
He told Miyashiro, clad in jeans and a blue-checked shirt, that on Jan. 10, “You should be prepared to turn yourself in to jail.” Miyashiro and Sing declined comment Wednesday.
“It’s not soon enough,” said Chevylyn Yara, who was in the courtroom with close friend and supporter Leeandra Yanuaria.
“If they had taken care of it back then,” she said it might have saved her 16-year-old daughter, Sara Yara, who was killed Feb. 15, when the 2001 silver Toyota Tacoma pickup Miyashiro was driving allegedly struck her and another female student, who were in a marked crosswalk at Kapiolani Boulevard and Kamakee Street.
She said Miyashiro and others usually just receive a slap on the wrist. “Just because Sara passed away, they want to do jail time.”
Yara said the victims’ survivors, including parents like herself, are “just waiting for results. Today, all we’re doing is prolonging it. How do we know he’s not back on the street?”
But Yara said she wanted to make her presence felt, not just in the courtroom.
“They need to make a difference in the law,” she said. “He’s not the only one who drives around without a license.”
She is hoping that tougher laws will help keep people safe whether they are walking on the street or are driving, and has spoken with legislators.
After Sara Yara’s death, many in the community questioned how Miyashiro managed to avoid being jailed despite his extensive record.
The Jan. 5 misdemeanor was a case in point.
Miyashiro had been driving the same 2001 silver Toyota Tacoma at 1:53 a.m. heading mauka on Ward Avenue when his right tires were about 2 feet into the bike lane for about 20 feet, mauka of Kapiolani Boulevard, according to the police citation.
The citation shows his driver’s license was suspended Aug. 1, 2018, with no end date, but he presented a license that expired July 16, 2017.
For reasons not explained in online court records, the misdemeanor charge of driving without a valid driver’s license was reduced to a petty misdemeanor Feb. 6, just nine days before the fatality.
The state dismissed Count 2, driving while license suspended or revoked, at the arraignment, leaving Count 1, driving without a license.
The state, in an oral motion, amended the severity of the charge to a petty misdemeanor. (A district court clerk said the records she could access do not provide the full name of the deputy prosecutor who made the amendment or more detailed minutes of the hearing.)
Judge Alvin Nishimura approved the oral motion.
On March 1, Andrew Itsuno, a different deputy prosecutor, filed a motion to increase the severity from a petty misdemeanor back to a misdemeanor.
He argued that the law shows if a person has two or more prior convictions for the same offense in the preceding five-year period for violating state law, he or she is subject to a maximum $1,000 fine or one year in prison or both.
Itsuno cited Miyashiro’s prior convictions for driving without a license on the following dates, including but not limited to: July 22, 2020; Aug. 26, 2020; and Nov. 13, 2019.
On May 1, Judge James McWhinnie granted the change in severity of the charge back to a misdemeanor.
With regard to the Feb. 15 hit-and-run, Miyashiro turned himself in to police 6:30 p.m. the following day. He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree negligent homicide, collisions involving death or serious bodily injury and collisions involving bodily injury.
But such offenses typically take months to investigate, and often up to a year before charges are brought.
Miyashiro remains free since he has not yet been charged with any crime related to the hit-and-run.
Chevylyn Yara says her daughter died two months shy of her 17th birthday.
“Now her twin, Phoebe, has to go to school every day without her sister,” their mother said.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that because the charge was not a felony, the judge said he could take up to 90 days to set a return date. The law allows the judge discretion to order a pre-sentencing investigation report, and that report could take up to 90 days to complete. He set the date after the 90 days.
