Title: State v. Kealoha

State: hawaii

Issuer: Hawaii Supreme Court

Document:

‘*** NOT FOR PUBLICATIO?
No. 26070

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAT'T

 

saa

STATE OF HAWAI'I, Plaintiff-Appellee

 

 

LANCE HEALOMA, efendant-Appel ant :
APPEAL FHOH THE FIRST CIRCUIT COURT zg

(CR. NO. 02-1-0767)

(By: Moon, C.J., Levinson, Nekayama, Acoba, and Duffy, JJ.)

 

Defendant-appellant Lance Kealoha (Kealoha) appeals

from the August 6, 2003 judgment of the circuit court of the

first circuit, the Honorable Wilfred Watanabe presiding,

convicting Kealoha of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle
(UCPV) in violation of Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 708-836

(2001)? and sentencing him to a term of five years’ imprisonment

WARS § 108-826 Unauthorized control of propelled vehicle provides:
i) A person consite the offense of unauthorized control of

a propelled Vehicle If the person intentionally ef knowingly

exerts unauthorises control over ancther's propelled venicle by

Sperating the vehicle without the omner's consent oF by changing

the identity of the vehicle without the owner's consent

(2) "Propelled venicie™ means an automobile, airplane,
notoreyele, motorbest or cther noter-propelled vehicle.
1) se"SS°Gn aftummative defense to's prosecution under this
section that the defendent
(a) Received authorization to use the vehicle from
an agent of the owner where the agent. had actual
Of apparent authority to authorize such use: oF
Te a iien holder or legal omner of the propelled
venicle, or an authorized agent of the Lien
holder or legsl owner, engaged in the Lawful
Fepossession of the propelled vehicle.

(4) For the purpeses of this section, "omer mesns the
registered cuner of the propelled vehicle or the unrecorded onner
of the vehicle pending transfer of ownership; proviced that if
there ss no registered owner of the propelled vehicle or
unrecorded owner of the vehicle pending transfer of ownership,
“ouner* means the Legal owner.

(cont inved.

 

 

 

&

’

noe
‘*** NOT FOR PUBLICATION ***
with credit for time served. Kealoha argues as a point of error
on appeal that the circuit court erred in precluding Kealoha from
asserting the mistake of fact defense at trial in violation of
his due process guarantee of a fair trial under the fourteenth
amendment to the United States Constitution and article 1,
section 14 of the Hawai" Constitution. Specifically, Kealoha
argues that the court erred in granting the prosecution’ s motion
in Limine to preclude the presentation or elicitation of any
evidence pertaining to the defendant’s ignorance or mistake of
fact, good faith belief, or conditional intent with respect to
his use of the vehicle in question. The prosecution argues that
the court did not err, as such evidence would have been
irrelevant.

Upon carefully reviewing the record and the briefs
submitted by the parties and having given due consideration to
the arguments advanced and the issues raised, we vacate the
judgment and sentence of the circuit court and remand the matter
for a new trial. To the extent that the precluded evidence would
tend to negative Kealcha’s state of mind with respect to an
element of the offense charged, it was error for the trial court
to grant the state’s motion in limine and, pursuant to that

 

ruling, to exelude evidence pertinent to Kealcha’s proposed
mistake-of-fact defense. This error implicates the defendant’s
due process guarantee of a fair trial. The prosecution presents

no argument in connection with its burden in the face of trial

Us scontinved)
3) Unauthorized control of & propelled vehicle is a cli
felony.

 
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error of constitutional dimensions, i,e., to rebut the
presumption that such error was not harmless. Therefore,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the judgment from which the
appeal is taken is va

 

ed and the matter is remanded for a new
trial

DATED: Honolulu, Hawai'i, January 25, 2006.

on the briefs: Go
Joyce K. Matsumori-Hoshijo, SkigPC no
Deputy Public Defender,
for the defendant-appeilant

Ryan Yeh, Deputy Prosecuting

Attorney, for the plaintiff=

appellee State of Hawai'i ON
Genre Duty sr