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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Driver in fatal crash gets probation


By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Billy J. Lamug listens to a statement from Patricia Pedro, the mother of Shane Bachiller, who was killed along with Lanakila Vierra when Lamug's speeding car crashed near Waialua in 2006.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Gwen Vierra holds a photo of her son, Lanakila Vierra, while sitting in Judge Michael Town's courtroom during sentencing for Billy J. Lamug.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

A large group of family and friends of the two victims, Shane Bachiller and Lanakila Vierra, stand in Judge Michael Town's courtroom.

BRUCE ASATO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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In a courtroom crowded with family and friends of his victims, Billy J. Lamug was sentenced today to five years of probation for a 2006 car accident that killed two high school friends and maimed a third.

One surviving victim of the high speed crash said that Lamug’s apology for the accident, delivered in court, came too late and his sentence was too light.
Lamug, now 21, pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree negligent homicide and one count of negligently causing injury. All the offenses are felonies.
Killed in the May 2006 accident were Waialua High School students Shane Bachiller, 18, and Lanakila Vierra, 17.
Courtney Enriques, now 20, was a passenger in the car and was hospitalized for 50 days following the crash, enduring 10 surgeries to repair her crushed and mangled feet.
“It’s been way too long,” she outside court. “We wanted a better justice.”
“It would have meant so much if he could have served some time in jail,” said Enriques.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Wayne Tashima asked Circuit Judge Michael Town to sentence Lamug to up to five years in prison.
Defense attorney Dean Hoe emphasized that the accident was caused by negligence and did not involve recklessness criminal intent.
No drugs or alcohol were involved and Lamug, who has since graduated from college with a 3.8 grade point average, has no previous or subsequent criminal record.
Town agreed with Hoe’s argument, suspending a one-year jail sentence and ordering the defendant to complete five years of probation.
Lamug, who now lives in Arizona, must also pay some $3,700 in restitution and perform 400 hours of community service.