The tears flowed on both sides of the aisle yesterday as 16-year-old Joshua Pena pleaded guilty in Johnson County District Court to involuntary manslaughter in the vehicular death last year of a close friend, 16-year-old Zach Myers.
As a result of a plea agreement, Pena was sentenced to 60 days in the Juvenile Detention Center and two years of supervised probation. If he fails to abide by the terms of the probation, he could be sentenced to a detention term of 18 months to three years. Also, his driving privileges were suspended for a year.
Zach Myers
Standing behind the defense table, a sobbing Pena told Judge Brenda Cameron:
“Not a day goes by that I do not pray, that I do not wish that I could take it all back and make it like it was before. I would do anything to bring Zach back. He was a great friend…I cannot describe how sorry I am.”
More than once, his attorney, Jason Billam, put his arm around Pena’s shoulders to comfort and support him.
In the audience, Pena’s parents and relatives cried on one side of the courtroom, and Myers’ parents and relatives cried on the other.
A few minutes earlier, Zach’s father, Capt. John Myers of the Olathe Fire Department, told the court that the loss of one of their two sons had been “overwhelming emotionally and physically.”
“It has left a hole in our hearts,” he said through tears and a breaking voice.
Zach, he said, “was well known for his bear hugs, and he sure wasn’t a sissy about giving them out.”
Later, Myers said: “It was an accident. We know he (Pena) didn’t mean to do it.” Turning to Pena, he said, We want you to know that we forgive you and that Zach forgives you.”
Neither alcohol nor drugs was involved in the wreck.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Pena walked back to the railing and gave his mother, Cynthia Pena, a long, tearful embrace. As he turned to leave with sheriff’s deputies, his mother told him to hug his father, standing next to her, and he did.
The father, who, oddly, had a Bluetooth over his right ear, declined to give his first name.
Myers died as a result of a two-car, head-on collision last December. Pena was driving the car that Myers and another student were in, and Pena admitted to driving at speeds up to 75 mph on North Iowa Street, in an area where the speed limit is 25.
The boys were on the way back to their school, Olathe Northwest, after having attended classes at the district’s trade school in downtown Olathe.
Scene of the crash
The driver of the other car had pulled around a truck that was parked on the side of the street, and there wasn’t room for her vehicle and Pena’s to pass.
Myers, who was sitting in the back seat, behind Pena, was struck in the head by a flying object in the car, perhaps a book bag or backpack, Billam said.
The three boys and the driver of the other car were wearing seat belts. No one other than Myers was seriously injured.
The hearing was so emotional that even Judge Cameron had to pause a couple of times to maintain her equanimity.
“It’s hard to know the right thing to say,” she said, looking at the Myers’ family before passing sentence. “It’s hard to say what would be just or fair. I can’t order restitution or make you whole. I wish I could…I’m very sorry for your loss.”
At the same time, she said that Pena’s apology was “heartfelt.”
“I hope that you can get beyond this and go back to being a successful young man,” she told Pena. “I know the victim’s family wants you to be successful, and I do, too.”
Pena, who has close-cropped black hair, wore a tan, short-sleeved detention center uniform with the letters JDC printed on the back. A thick leather belt was around his waist.
In anticipation of the plea agreement being approved by the judge, Billam had Pena surrender to juvenile authorities early last month. Because of that, Pena got credit for 29 days served as of Friday. After serving the final 31 days, he will be ready to enter his senior year at Olathe Northwest.
Zach Myers also would have been a senior.
Billam and Assistant District Attorney Don Hymer noted that, in addition to the criminal case, a civil lawsuit was pending. Billam and Hymer said the Pena and Myers families had agreed to the terms of a settlement and that the case should be resolved soon.
Correction: This story should have said that Pena admitted to driving at speeds up to 70 mph, not 75 mph.
P.S. I wrote other entries about this case on Dec. 6, 9, 15 and 21.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Sad story all around.
People wearing Bluetooth rigs on their ears, should be thrown to Plaza Flash Mobs for beatings until they stop wearing them.
People wearing Bluetooth rigs on their ears, speaking loudly, in public, while staring into the distance at nothing and ‘multitasking’ should be broken on the wheel.
People wearing Bluetooth rigs on their ears in court, while their kid is getting sentenced to jail, should be summarily shot, IN COURT.
Who was the kid’s father expecting a call from, that he HAD to take, in court, while his kid pleads out a manslaughter charge? The Governor?
“Er…, ah, hold on, your Honor, I’ve got Browny on the phone here, and he is doing a great job by the way, he says, we can send my kid home, er, hold on…what’s that Governor, you want him to drive too??? Ok, there ya have it your honor, good thing this Bluetooth ear-rig-a-ma-jig picks up such a good signal in court, huh?”
What a tool.
Thanks, Chuck, for affirming what definitely was the weirdest aspect of the hearing — the Bluetooth business. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it in the body of the story, but you homed right in on the impropriety and stupidity of it.
I agree with you completely, too, that everyone who wears Bluetooth rigs on their ears should be “broken on the wheel.” Can’t be expressed any better than that. I already feel better…
And speaking of driving, I forgot to mention in the original that Pena’s driving privileges were suspended for a year. (I just added that to the story.)
If it snows later on today, I am walking in it, to my old grade school, and I am “liking” it!
:)
Ditto on daddy bluetooth. Not just a tool, a toolbox, Craftsman 12 drawer with all terrain casters.
As Tony Botello might say, this is Golden Ghetto justice.
Far too lenient of a sentence. Accident my ass. 75mph in a residential neighborhood? Even in my dumbest, most immature days of playing pretend James Bond , sometimes under the influence, while headed to Texas Toms I would have never contemplated such a fete. That puts you straight in too dumb to live territory.
Oh, I forgot abortions are still legal in Kansas, didn’t know that included the justice system as well. I’m sure this sentencing precedent will be cited down the road.
I would have given him at least two years in the pokey and required during that time that he speak at middle schools and high schools about this experience and what he learned from it. Would have dinged him with maybe $100K in restitution to be paid to the deceased’s family.
Nobody wins, but the lawyers still got paid.
John Myers was being extremely gracious when he used the term “accident,” Smartman. Of course, he knows it wasn’t an “accident,” in the technical sense. His point, though, was that Pena made an incredibly stupid mistake, and he wanted Pena to know that he was forgiving him. It appeared to me that Pena was genuinely sorry and understood fully the enormity of the situation.
Yes, he got the break of a lifetime, and now the pressure will be on him to prove, as the judge said, that he can be “a successful young man” and, then, a successful adult. Let’s hope this jolts the kid into a level of maturity that otherwise might have taken years for him to attain, if ever.
I hear ya Fitz, but this makes the OJ verdict seem like a reasonable decision.
Having been a speed demon in my youth I can tell you there is dumb, dumber, dumbest, insane, moronic and then 75 mph in a residential neighborhood.
Tom Brady got the break of a lifetime when Drew Bledsoe got injured. This kid gets a miracle that in my opinion is worthy of “straight to sainthood” if there was any Divine Intervention.
Actions are supposed to have consequences. Maybe young Mister Pena’s will be more karmic than judicial.
Remember, Smartman, OJ only cut off Nicole’s head because he thought she was a Highlander.
Let me tell you something on the man with the bluetooth. I know him personally. He is a father and kind husband. He is someone who owns a business for which he personally runs by himself. he works two full-time jobs and has another son at home. He is one of the kindest people one could ever truly know. I feel blessed that I know him and for you people to not put into play that he turned his phone off, cried also in court, and refused to be apart of some sleeze-ball’s story claiming thy know everything that happened. the author of this story thinks he knows how it went down and what the aftermath is but in reality he does not. Jimmy is pure idiot when it comes to knowing of the situation because all he is interested in is judging a situation which he has clearly never had to experience. No one has any right to bad mouth the Pena family for you don’ know both sides. Yes speeding is bad but that doesn’t make Josh or his family bad. this accident happened because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Have you ever thought of what Josh goes through on a daily basis? Have you ever thought that maybe it has affected him severely, mentally and physically? I’m sure you haven’t. The bluetooth shouldn’t be any of your concern since it is just part of what Mr. Pena has to do to make a living. part of that living is spent on the phone speaking with potential clients. I have felt deep pain like josh over our friend lost but he has gone through so much more. I love Josh even though he was speeding. I love him still even though he made a bad choice. Life is about bad choices and how you learn from them. So next time you people decide to judgmental assholes instead of being a real journalist who gets the facts from both sides, you should think twice before publishing your work when I clearly know more than any of you combined and I am 18! Yellow journalism doesn’t make someone’s career through the eyes of the public, it only cheapens your work. gets your facts right next time morons!
Caroline I completely agree with you. I can not begin to tell you how much I am bothered by the fact that “jimmyC” was even allowed in the court room. After his blogs in December when he felt his conversation with the Myers family was a amicable???? Seriously???? Like I said in December its none of his business!!! He upset the Myers family by calling them at home only a few short days after the loss of their child to find out information for selfish reasons. Furthermore for him to feel it was necessary to write about Mr. Pena wearing a bluetooth in the courtroom? Did he hear him talking on it? Did Mr. Pena turn it off? Or maybe, just maybe did he mean to take it off but forgot because the emotion of the day got the best of him??? In addition, for those that have commented on what the punishment should have been have no earthly idea why it was what it was. There are reasons that the punishment is as minimal as it is. And again no business of anyone other than the family, friends and DA!!! It was an accident!!! He is sorry for what he did!!! And the Myers forgive him. They are broken but they forgive!! We all wish Zach was still with us. But there is no reason for another young mans life to be ruined! If I had two wishes, the first would be for Zach to be right here with us. The second would be the JimmyC would never feel it was him mission to inform others of this tragic situation!