BREAKING NEWS: RPV teen pleads guilty to crash that killed professor; Can get 2 years
A Rancho Palos Verdes teenager accused of speeding along Hawthorne Boulevard and careening into a Marymount College professor out for his morning walk pleaded guilty Monday to vehicular manslaughter.
But 18-year-old Jake Lee's guilty plea in Torrance Superior Court frustrated the victim's widow because the toughest sentence he can receive is two years behind bars.
"My life is destroyed," said Aida Kammoun, whose 49-year-old husband, Jammel Kammoun, died nearly two years ago. "(Lee) is still here."
Lee, a 17-year-old Palos Verdes Peninsula High School student at the time of the crash, whispered "guilty" to what was an open plea to the judge. Next month, Lee must surrender at the North Kern State Prison in Delano, where he will undergo up to a 90-day psychiatric exam that will determine his fate.
If Lee fails, Judge James Brandlin could sentence him to prison for up to two years. If he passes, he would receive a sentence of probation and 364 days in county jail, but can pay to serve the time in a city jail.
"It's good, but it's not enough," Kammoun's wife said. "He has to go to prison."
The plea was made over the objection of Deputy District Attorney Don Syn, who never offered Lee a deal, but said prosecutors would have sought a four-year prison sentence.
A vehicular manslaughter conviction calls for a sentence of two, four or six years in prison, so the maximum sentence Lee could receive is the low term.
"We don't like it," Syn said. "There's nothing we can do."
During a preliminary hearing in January, Lee's friend, John Quimbayo, testified that he was in the front passenger seat of Lee's 2009 silver Infiniti G37 as Lee sped down Hawthorne Boulevard toward the Pacific Ocean the morning of Dec. 20, 2009.
The night before, Lee, Quimbayo and a third youth in the car had attended a party at a Rancho Palos Verdes apartment, where partiers drank vodka and beer and went to sleep. Quimbayo testified that Lee drank more than two beers and was sober enough to drive in the morning.
Lee, Quimbayo and another passenger were headed to a 7-Eleven convenience store when Lee turned on Hawthorne Boulevard from Crest Road. Quimbayo testified that he "gassed it."
The car was traveling 90 to 100 mph.
"He said, 'I have to use all this horsepower,'" Quimbayo testified. "I was fearing for my life."
Lee lost control of the car near Alta Vista Drive, rode up the sidewalk, struck Kammoun, and took out six trees and 30 feet of a 6-foot-tall block wall.
Kammoun, a popular math professor and father of three young children, died at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Lee, Quimbayo testified, told a friend he would at least get another car in college.
Lee's attorney, Richard Hutton, said Monday that his client, whose formal name is Ho Jai Lee, will be kept away from the prison population at Delano while undergoing the psychiatric examination.
Lee has taken responsibility for what happened, Hutton said.
"My client has accepted responsibility and has all along recognized his actions caused this tragic accident and death," Hutton said.
Lee was born in South Korea and is not a U.S. citizen. His plea could result in his deportation, although Syn said that is a decision for federal authorities.
Lee, who was initially charged as a juvenile but prosecuted as an adult, is free on $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on Dec. 19.
About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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