RPV Teen Sentenced to 2 Years for Marymount Professor's Death

A Rancho Palos Verdes man was sentenced Friday to two years in jail for a December 2009 crash that killed a Marymount College mathematics and physics professor.

With the victim's wife and three young daughters looking on in court, Torrance Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin denied a defense request for Ho Jai Lee, now 19, to be placed on probation.

The judge called the Dec. 20, 2009, crash that killed Jammel Abdelhamid Kammoun, 49, "incredibly horrific."

"Clearly the defendant's speed was greatly excessive," Brandlin said following a nearly daylong hearing in which the defense contested how fast Lee—who was 17 at the time—was driving before the crash. "It's clearly far above a reasonable speed for that particular street."

Lee, to vehicular manslaughter, spoke through tears just before being sentenced.

"First off, I would like to say that I'm really sorry for everything that happened," said Lee, who was prosecuted as an adult. "Sorry can't even really describe it ... I want to take full responsibility for my actions."

The victim's widow, Aida, told the judge, "My life has changed upside down."

She noted that she has had to take on the roles of both parents to the couple's three daughters, who were between 3 months and 5 years old when her husband was killed, and that the girls wanted her to dress up like a father on Father's Day.

"What about us? What about those kids?" she asked.

Earlier in the day, Kammoun's colleagues from spoke at the hearing.

Michael S. Brophy, the college's president, said the day Kammoun was killed was "one of the most difficult Sundays in the college's history."

He noted that Kammoun had been on the campus with his daughters less than 15 hours earlier, probably to enter grades as he had promised his students.

"A careless, thoughtless act has changed the life of these girls, all four of our girls forever," the college president said, noting that the college still feels Kammoun's loss.

Wiping tears from his eyes, fellow math professor Patrick Webster told the judge that one of the reasons he hired Kammoun was "the relationship I felt he could have with the students." He said his colleague—who also taught math at El Camino College in Torrance—never grew tired of being with his children.

Kammoun was out for a morning walk on Hawthorne Boulevard south of Alta Vista Drive, which had a 45 mph speed limit, when Lee swerved onto the sidewalk and struck a block wall and Kammoun.

Deputy District Attorney Don Syn called on the judge to impose the maximum term of two years allowed under the defendant's plea, saying the victim's daughters were in court "to see the person who killed their father."

"This is not a probation case," the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Richard Hutton said his client, who was a high school senior at the time, was "obviously speeding," but said the case was "not as aggravated as portrayed by the prosecution."

The judge said he had determined that probation was "not appropriate" for Lee, whose parents, he said, have "had to live through this nightmare."

The judge gave Lee credit for 36 days already served behind bars, but declined to credit him for time during which he was out of custody but electronically monitored. Lee was handcuffed and taken into custody after the sentence was pronounced.

Outside court, the victim's widow, "My husband's gone. To put him (Lee) for two years in jail, it's not enough."

She called Lee's apology "too late."

It's like now it's two years and you say 'Sorry' after two years," the victim's wife said.

Kammoun, who had taught at Marymount College since 2001, was posthumously honored as 2010 Educator of the Year at the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula's Educator of the Year awards ceremony.