HIT-RUN THAT KILLED CALARTS STUDENT GETS DRIVER 5-YEAR TERM.Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer A Canyon Country man was sentenced Monday to five years in prison under the terms of a plea bargain plea bargain n. in criminal procedure, a negotiation between the defendant and his attorney on one side and the prosecutor on the other, in which the defendant agrees to plead "guilty" or "no contest" to some crimes, in return for reduction of the severity of the in a hit-and-run accident that killed a CalArts student, officials said. Rick Sharp pleaded no contest to charges of vehicular manslaughter vehicular manslaughter n. the crime of causing the death of a human being due to illegal driving of an automobile, including gross negligence, drunk driving, reckless driving, or speeding. and causing death during a hit-and-run in a July 15 accident on the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. (5) that killed Norio Hozumi, a trombone trombone [Ital.,=large trumpet], brass wind musical instrument of cylindrical bore, twice bent on itself, having a sliding section that lengthens or shortens it and thus regulates the pitch. The descendant of the sackbut, it was developed in the 15th cent. student from Japan. "We are in the business of going to trial, but if someone is willing to accept responsibility and they plead to state prison time, we will take it," said Deputy District Attorney Sherry Silverman, in brief remarks after the plea. Sharp is scheduled to be formally sentenced by Judge Ronald Coen on March 8 in North Valley Superior Court in Van Nuys. "He wanted to get it over with," said Sharp's attorney Thomas Kascoutas. "He realized he made a mistake, and he to pay for it. He wants to get it going." Hozumi, 20, died after his motorcycle was rear-ended in Mission Hills by a sport utility truck, officials said. Sharp, who was on probation for drunk driving, was tracked down after a license plate fell off his Nissan Pathfinder For the model marketed as Nissan Terrano II in Europe, see . The Nissan Pathfinder and Terrano were originally compact SUVs and they are now mid-size SUVs. at the scene. The truck was registered to a friend of Sharp, who was in county jail at the time. The friend told investigators he had sold the vehicle to Sharp, who then later turned himself in. It turned out the truck was stolen. "We were wondering what had happened (to the case)," said Gwen Fishbeck, the foreign student adviser at the California Institute of the Arts California Institute of the Arts known as CalArts U.S. private institution of higher learning in Valencia. Created in 1961 through the merger of two other art institutes, it was the first in the U.S. . "It was an awful thing. I don't think it's just, if he will be out prison in a couple of years, (but) what's done is done." A memorial concert was held Jan. 24 at the school for Hozumi. The daytime concert featured several friends playing jazz pieces, Fishbeck said. A native of northern Japan, Hozumi had just completed one year of study at the school after graduating from the prestigious Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts. His mother, a Shinto priest, flew in from Japan to attend his funeral in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , Fishbeck said. In accepting the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of alcohol-related manslaughter, auto theft and joy riding against the 34-year-old salesman. He would have faced more than 10 years in prison if convicted of all the charges, Silverman said. |
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