Hampton man sentenced after falsely blaming his dead friend for fatal crash

Two friends were in a crash on Interstate 64. One lived, the other died.

The survivor — Kalik Kydarial Newsome — told state police his friend and co-worker — Robert “Robbie” Lee Ham II — was driving. Seven months later, police arrested Newsome and accused him of lying.

The case was set to go to trial, but Newsome, 25, pleaded guilty to aggravated involuntary manslaughter and felony eluding police. He was sentenced last week to 25 years in prison with 14 years suspended.

“I know he didn’t mean to kill my son,” said Robbie Ham’s father, Robert Ham. “I just wish I would have seen some remorse out of him.”

Robbie Ham’s mother, Venus Ham, said Newsome never apologized to the family for their loss or checked in on them — something she said he could have done without admitting guilt.

It started when a state trooper noticed a 2017 Honda Civic traveling without its headlights at a “high rate of speed” around 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2020, on Interstate 64 near the Mallory Street exit in Hampton.

The trooper tried to pull the car over, but it accelerated — reaching speeds of more than 100 mph, according to state police. Newsome lost control and crashed the car, rolling it several times. He was thrown from the car and suffered life-threatening injuries.

Ham, 22, was found inside the car and pronounced dead at the scene.

Newsome later told troopers that Ham was driving, and state police believed him. The state police spokesperson sent a news release naming Ham as the driver; news outlets reported on the crash.

But Ham’s family doubted he was driving for a number of reasons, including that the Civic wasn’t his car, his sister previously told the Daily Press.

“I told my parents that night I knew it wasn’t my brother — my brother wouldn’t do that,” Ashley Ham said. “I had it in my head the entire time — I knew he wasn’t driving.”

During his sentencing, Newsome acknowledged he was driving but still pointed the finger at his friend for the crash, saying he fled from police because Ham had active warrants for a gun charge and driving under the influence out of York County, according to Robert Ham.

“Yes, he said that he was guilty, but it was all predicated on that he was racing and running from the police to protect my son,” Robert Ham said. “That doesn’t sound like a whole lot of remorse to blame it on the dead man.”

The father alternated between saying that he believes the judge did the best he could with the sentence because the killing was unintentional and saying he wishes only five years of the 20-year sentence for the involuntary manslaughter charge had been suspended.

“He’s going to get out and still be in his 30s, but my son never gets out,” Robert Ham said.

Newsome’s attorney, Ashton Wray, did not return an email or telephone message Tuesday.

Much of the Ham family’s frustration is with the state police because they named Robbie as the driver about three hours after the fatal crash and distributed the information to local news outlets. After further investigation, police discovered Newsome was behind the wheel.

State police said witnesses didn’t come forward until after the preliminary investigation. The agency waited about seven months to identify Newsome as the driver because it was waiting on the results of DNA tests conducted on parts of the Civic.

The Ham family said it received hateful messages following reports of the crash, including people saying Robbie Ham “got what he deserved” and the family should be grateful the gene pool ended with him.

“All (state police) have ever said was that they’re sorry we lost our son,” Venus Ham said. “Never have they said we’re sorry we made a mistake.”

Robbie Ham had some trouble in his teenage years, but his family believed he was on a better path. His parents said he worked hard at his job fixing gas pipes for Watson’s Petroleum.

“He would lighten up any room when he came in — he had a smile that was contagious,” Venus Ham said. “He was loyal to a fault and loved his family and his friends.”

She contends that he wasn’t perfect — she said he had flaws and made mistakes like everyone else — but overall she believes he was a good person.

“We still feel numb,” she added. “It’s still as painful as the night we lost him.”

Jessica Nolte, 757-912-1675, jnolte@dailypress.com