The man charged with first-degree negligent homicide in the Feb. 15, 2023, hit-and-run death of a McKinley High School student was sentenced Monday to one year in jail for a traffic crime that occurred a month before the fatal crash.
Mitchel Miyashiro pleaded no contest Sept. 20, 2023 — the day his trial was to begin — to driving without a valid driver’s license.
Miyashiro was driving without a valid driver’s license and had more than 164 traffic citations when he was arrested in the death of 16-year-old Sara Yara, who was walking in a marked crosswalk on Kapiolani Boulevard, and the injury of her friend.
He was initially charged Jan. 5, 2023, with driving without a valid driver’s license and driving while license was suspended or revoked. The latter was dismissed with prejudice on Feb. 6, 2023, meaning the state cannot recharge him with that specific crime.
On March 1, 2023, two weeks after the fatal incident, the deputy prosecutor amended the severity of the remaining charge from petty misdemeanor to misdemeanor, which was granted May 1, 2023.
Miyashiro turned himself in the day after Yara was killed, Feb. 16, 2023, but he wasn’t charged until Dec. 5, 2023.
District Court Judge Thomas Haia granted numerous motions to delay
the sentencing in the misdemeanor case. Miyashiro’s sentencing came a year and seven months after his no-contest plea.
On April 4, Miyashiro refused to be transported to court for a hearing.
Haia sentenced Miyashiro to one year in jail and gave him credit for time served.
Miyashiro has been in custody since December 2023 for the negligent homicide case, unable to post $250,000 bail.
Miyashiro’s Circuit Court trial in the first-degree negligent homicide case is scheduled for July 7 before Judge Trish Morikawa. He is also charged with one felony collision involving death or serious bodily injury and one misdemeanor collision involving bodily injury.
