A Circuit Court judge denied a motion today to shorten a 10-year prison sentence imposed for the death of a 23-year-old man in a drunken-driving crash.

Bryan Thomas Miller III is being held at Halawa Correctional Facility for the crash that killed Waika Carvalho, 23, in November 2009.

Defense lawyer William Harrison said, “We’re going to go to the parole board and ask the parole board to set a very low minimum (term) and release him.”

Circuit Judge Karen Ahn said today, “I thought it was the correct sentence and I continue to do so.”

Miller pleaded no contest in February to a charge of first-degree negligent homicide.

Miller was 19 when a pickup truck he was driving went out of control on Kamehameha Highway in Laie on Nov. 14, 2009. The truck hit on the corner of Kahawanui Bridge. Carvalho, 23, the front-seat passenger, was killed.

Carvalho was a former Kahuku High School star quarterback and a nephew of Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.

Miller’s blood-alcohol level was 0.19, nearly two and a half times the legal threshold of 0.08. Police had said Miller was speeding at the time of the crash.