Woman Sentenced to Prison in S. Kona 2018 Fatal Hit-and-Run

A 46-year-old woman found guilty of negligent homicide in connection to a fatal hit-and-run crash in South Kona in 2018 was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

Initially charged with first-degree negligent homicide, a class B felony, Paulette Paulich was pronounced guilty after a weeklong jury trial in May in 3rd Circuit Court on a lesser-included offense of second-degree negligent homicide, a class C felony. She was also found guilty as charged for accidents involving death or serious bodily injury, also a class B felony, for leaving the scene.

On Wednesday, July 28, Paulich appeared before Judge Robert DS Kim who sentenced her to a 10-year prison term for the leaving the scene offense and a five-year prison term for the negligent homicide. Kim ordered that the sentences be served concurrently, or at the same time, and also ordered restitution of $1,864.

Kim ordered Paulich, who had been out of custody on supervised release pending sentencing, to be taken into custody immediately.

On July 16, 2018, Paulich left the scene after hitting a motorcyclist, identified as 61-year-old Nevada man Mark Brown, in South Kona near the 88-mile marker of Hawaiʻi Belt Road, Highway 11.

Family members of Brown were also present in court on Wednesday and provided input for the Court’s consideration.

“The family of Mark Brown suffered a tremendous loss as a result of the Defendant’s actions in this case, and our Office extends its deepest sympathies to them. We hope that this sentencing offers the family closure and some satisfaction that justice was served and that Mark’s memory lives on,” said First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Frye.