4-year sentence in Los Angeles vehicular manslaugher case

Following a plea of no contest to a 2009 DUI vehicular manslaughter, Paul Kyu Kim, 21, was sentenced to four years in prison.

The accident occurred on July 2, 2009 when Kim was traveling home from RA Sushi in Torrance. Kim admitted he had been drinking with friends at the restaurant. He was 20 at the time of the accident, and he also admitted to purchasing beverages with the use of a fake ID. He was allegedly traveling up to 110 mph in his vehicle on the 710 Freeway when he struck a car carrying Drean Hanley, 58, a resident of Silver Lake, California.

Hanley was on her way home from work at a bank in Irvine, California. She suffered severe injuries in the accident including a broken spine and died a week later.

Kim provided a blood alcohol sample reading .12 percent at the time of the crash. In exchange for his guilty plea to vehicular manslaughter, Kim was not charged with felony DUI and misdemeanor possession of a fake ID. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. 

Despite the guilty plea to this charge, Kim’s trial is not over yet. He is also at the center of a wrongful death suit filed by Hanley’s husband, Albert. Albert is suing RA Sushi, a subsidiary of the Benihana restaurant group, claiming there is evidence the staff continued to serve Kim despite the fact he showed signs of intoxication.