Opinion ID: 1195377
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Factual History As Adduced At Trial

Text: In August 1997, Jenkins was living in Kahuku, in the City and County of Honolulu, with a friend by the name of Robert Cartwright. On the night of August 2, 1997, another friend, Aloha Trice, came to visit Cartwright. At some point between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on the morning of August 3, 1997, Trice stated that she wanted to go to the store. Jenkins asked Cartwright if he could borrow a truck to drive Trice to the store. Cartwright handed Jenkins a set of keys and told him that the truck was out front on the road. Cartwright told Jenkins that he had just bought the truck. The vehicle outside of the house was a black Toyota truck, lifted with large tires. Jenkins had not traveled in the truck before. Jenkins and Trice entered the truck and drove north on Kamehameha Highway, in the direction of L&amacr;`ie and Hau`ula, the only towns with stores open at that time of night. As Jenkins was passing the L&amacr;`ie Shopping Center, he noticed that he was being followed by a police officer. Officer Ofeina Unga of the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) testified at trial as follows. During the early morning hours of August 3, 1997, he noticed a black Toyota truck, equipped with large tires and modified suspension, operating with expired tax and safety decals. He asked his dispatcher to confirm that the decals had expired and received an affirmative response. He activated his blue lights and siren, and the truck pulled over at the corner of Naniloa Loop and Iosepa Street. Officer Unga stopped his police vehicle about ten to twelve feet behind the truck and left his headlights on. He noticed two people in the truck, both of whom were moving around a lot trying to turn around and look at me and look out the windows and see what my position was in relation to them. Because this was more movement than that to which he was accustomed, Officer Unga approached the truck by walking in a loop from his car to the truck so he could have a straight view into the window on the driver's side. As Officer Unga was walking toward the vehicle, he noticed a black pouch and what appeared to be an eyeglasses case drop out of the passenger's side of the truck. He then observed the passenger, whom he later identified as Trice, open her door and begin to step out of the vehicle. He yelled at her to stay in the truck, but she leaped out of the truck, grabbed some of the items that had fallen to the ground, and returned to the vehicle. Officer Unga ran around the back of the truck to the passenger's side. On the ground, in the area of the passenger's door, he observed an eyeglasses case and two ziplock packets of what appeared to be crystal methamphetamine or ice. [2] He opened the passenger's door and directed the occupants of the truck to place their hands on the dashboard. Officer Unga leaned into the truck and, with the aid of his flashlight, observed a closed black pouch and a glass pipe on the seat between Trice and the driver, whom he later identified as Jenkins. Officer Unga feared for his safety and wanted to determine if there was any threat to him. He seized the pouch and felt the outline of a small handgun within it. He then removed the pouch from the vehicle. Shortly after Officer Unga secured the black pouch, a backup police unit arrived. HPD Officer Channing Hawkins removed Jenkins from the driver's side of the truck. Officer Unga walked around to the driver's side and observed a small blue bag on the floor of the truck's cab. Protruding from the bag appeared to be the butt of a small handgun. Officer Unga removed the handgun from the bag. In the process of securing the handgun for transport, he noticed a second firearm in the bottom of the bag. HPD Detective Terry Bledsoe testified that he obtained and executed a warrant to search the closed black pouch that Officer Unga had seized from the seat of the truck. Inside, he discovered a pistol and ammunition. Jenkins testified that he was unaware of any of the three guns before they were discovered by Officer Unga. He further testified that, when he entered the truck on August 3, 1997, he did not know that there were any firearms in it.