« on: April 26, 2005, 12:44:42 PM »
No contest plea in motorcycle death
By Michelle Durand, Daily Journal Staff
The 31-year-old college student accused of killing a Half Moon Bay motorcyclist just over one year ago by driving on the wrong side of Skyline Boulevard pleaded no contest yesterday to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter.
Kazuhiro Ishii, of Japan, agreed to switch his not guilty plea during a hearing Thursday morning. The change comes just days shy of Monday’s scheduled jury trial and just past the one-year anniversary of his arrest last year.
As part of his plea, Ishii also admitted that the charge is a serious felony. In return, Ishii was promised no state prison and a consideration of probation.
Last July, after a two-day preliminary hearing, a judge ordered him to stand trial for vehicular manslaughter but not the specific allegation that he caused injury by driving in the wrong lane. He faced up to six years in prison if convicted by a jury.
Police say on April 3, Ishii, then a 30-year-old student at the University of California at Berkeley, was driving a rented Ford Focus along Skyline Boulevard. His car was traveling on the wrong lane as he maneuvered around the curvy State Route 35 road, striking Henry Charles Frisbie. Frisbie was thrown from his motorcycle and died at the scene near Portola Valley.
Ishii was driving with an international driver’s license, which is not considered valid in California.
Ishii is free from custody on $150,000 cash bail. He returns to court June 10 for receipt of a probation report and sentencing.
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