Former tour bus driver Steve Oshiro brought a new lawyer to court yesterday and tried to withdraw his no-contest plea to manslaughter in the June 2006 death of motorist Corey Voss.

Driving a Roberts Hawaii tour bus in Kahalu'u, Oshiro, 50, veered across the center line of Kamehameha Highway and smashed head-on into a sport utility vehicle driven by Voss, 41, of Kane'ohe.

Oshiro pleaded no contest to manslaughter in January in return for a promise that Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle would seek no more than a 10-year prison term for the crime.

Two months ago, attorney Michael Green filed a motion to withdraw the plea and also filed a civil suit against Roberts Hawaii, claiming that company officials forced Oshiro to drive the tour bus after he complained he was too ill to drive.

Carlisle has alleged that Oshiro was under the influence of crystal methamphetamine when the accident occurred, although no drug or alcohol tests were conducted by authorities after the collision.

Oshiro reportedly was fired by Roberts after he refused to undergo such tests. Oshiro claims in court papers that he resigned.

Green alleged yesterday that Roberts required drivers to work "80 to 90 hours a week" and that his client was physically exhausted when the collision occurred.

Company lawyer Bruce Wakuzawa filed legal papers in the civil suit earlier this month denying Green's allegations.

Family members of Voss were in court yesterday to testify about what sentence Oshiro should receive, but left without comment after Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario scheduled more arguments in the case for Sept. 17.

Family members of Oshiro also were present.

Carlisle said after the hearing that it would cost taxpayers "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to take the case to trial now, assembling witnesses from various locations on the Mainland.

The Kahalu'u collision occurred after Oshiro drove a tour group of 50 to 60 Kansas high school students from Waikiki to the Polynesian Cultural Center on O'ahu's North Shore, a trip that Carlisle repeatedly has called the "bus ride from hell."

A videotape shot by one of the passengers showed the bus veering in and out of lanes on the highway as Oshiro himself leaned out of, and back into, his driver's seat.

In a previous interview, Cindi Kimmel, one of the passengers on the bus, said the ride over the Pali was a harrowing ordeal.

"In the mountains, he was swerving, and we were terrified we were going to go off the cliff. When we got to the ocean, we thought the bus was going to crash into the water," said Kimmel in the January phone interview.

They demanded and received another bus and driver. The collision with Voss' vehicle occurred when Oshiro was driving his empty bus back to town.

Carlisle said of Oshiro in January, "Not only did he kill Corey Voss, who was about to become a father, he also put in danger 50 people from the Mainland."

Voss, a food and beverage director, was returning home after a day of surfing when the collision occurred.

His wife, Asa Akamine Voss, was six months pregnant at the time of his death and later gave birth to a daughter.

She and other family members sued Oshiro and Roberts earlier this year. Roberts reached a confidential settlement in the case in June. The suit against Oshiro is pending.

Yesterday's court hearing featured testimony from attorney David Hayakawa, who represented Oshiro at the time the plea agreement was signed.

New defense lawyer Green questioned Hayakawa closely on whether the terms and consequences of the plea deal were fully explained to Oshiro and his family members.

Much of the questioning centered on a provision of the deal that said if Oshiro tried to withdraw from the agreement, he would be held without bail in prison pending resolution of the case.

Green called that provision of the agreement unconstitutional.