Title: State v. Benitez
Citation: 94 Haw. 291
Docket Number: 22973
State: Hawaii
Issuer: Hawaii Supreme Court
Date: October 17, 2000

NO. 22973 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I STATE OF HAWAI#I, Plaintiff-Appellee vs. ANTHONY BENITEZ, aka Anthony Richardson, Defendant-Appellant APPEAL FROM THE FIRST CIRCUIT COURT (CR. NO. 98-2022) SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER (By: Moon, C.J., Levinson, Nakayama, Ramil, and Acoba JJ.) Defendant-appellant Anthony Benitez appeals from the judgment of conviction and sentence for one count of promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree in violation of Hawai#i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 712-1243 (1993 & Supp. 1998), and driving without a license in violation of HRS § 286-102 (1993 & Supp. 1998). On appeal, he argues that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence found pursuant to a traffic stop and eventual arrest by Officer Patrick Maher. Upon careful review of the record and the briefs submitted by the parties, we resolve defendant-appellant’s argument as follows: Maher validly stopped Benitez when he had reasonable and articulable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences drawn from those facts, created reasonable suspicion that a traffic violation occurred. Therefore, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the trial court’s judgment of conviction is affirmed. DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, October 17, 2000. Joseph R. Mottl, III for defendant-appellant Mangmang Qiu Brown, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, for plaintiff-appellee