Opinion ID: 2508592
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Credibility Concerning an Aggravated Battery Charge

Text: Petitioner disagrees with panel finding 29 [19] that Petitioner's explanation of a 1991 aggravated battery charge was not credible. Petitioner opines that his explanation is consistent with police reports. Petitioner says that the panel did not question him about the incident. Petitioner was charged in Kansas with unlawfully, feloniously and willfully touch[ing] or apply[ing] force to the person of another ... with the intent to injure that person and which was done with a deadly weapon, to wit: an automobile or which was done in a manner whereby great bodily harm, disfigurement, dismemberment or death could have been inflicted, in violation of K.S.A. [§] 21-3414 and K.S.A. [§] 21-4501(c). As previously noted, prosecution was deferred, and Petitioner entered a diversionary program. The police officers' accounts of the incident said, in sum, that they were assigned to serve a protection from abuse order, that when Petitioner drove into a driveway and got out of the car one of the officers drove in behind Petitioner, and that Petitioner ran back to and reentered his car and reversed the car toward the officer. The officer jumped onto the hood of the officer's car, but the officer's left foot was momentarily pinned between the bumpers of the two cars. On his application Petitioner described the incident thus: I was dropping off my daughter's overnight bag at my estranged wife's residence when I was rapidly approached by two men unknown to me. Believing that I was in immediate danger I attempted to flee and during that attempt accidently bumped one of the men chasing me with my automobile. The men then drew guns and pointed them at me and identified themselves as County Deputies. I complied with their directions and was immediately arrested and charged with aggregated [sic] battery against a LEO.[ [20] ] Petitioner's explanation at the hearing was lengthier and varied to some extent: The 1991 charge for Aggravated Battery I think needs to be explained in the context of some surrounding circumstances. In late January 1991, I moved out of our family home after discovering that my wife at the time ... was having an affair. That was the end of January 1991. On February 18th, 1991, while [wife] was at work at Johnson County Community College, I used my house key and entered the home with the intention of retrieving a fish tank, some clothing, and some other personal items that I still had in the house, thought the best time to do that, since it was a very emotional time for both of us, was when she was not there. So I entered the house, and I heard the alarm beeping. I went over to the keypad to disarm it, and she had changed the code, so I knew the alarm was going to go off. I also knew that it was a monitored system so that the police would be summoned in a very short period of time, so I simply waited for them. They arrived. I showed them my ID. They asked me what I was doing there. I explained the situation, and they were fine with it. They said, Get your stuff, do what you need to do, and leave, and so I did that. The police left. While I was there, the phone rang and I answered it, and it was my wife at the time, my ex-wife now, on the phone. She was very irate that I was in the house, although we had no formal separation agreement or anything, I'd simply moved out, there was no divorce pending at that time or anything, sobut anyway, she was irate. She accused me of spying on her and digging into her personal affairs and activities, and she ended it by saying that she was going to have my ass kicked, specifically those words. Later that evening, I had my daughter, our daughter, over for overnight visitation, and prior to going to bed that night, she had karate class. I took her to karate, and when we were talking, she said, Oh, mom's new boyfriend has a black belt in karate, and so I thought, okay, well, I made a little mental note of that. The next morning, I went over to drop I dropped my daughter at the elementary school, and then I went by the house to drop off her overnight bag to my ex. As I drove into the driveway, I got out of the car, parked it, started walking up the walkway, and two cars from different directions descended on me. The men, two different men, jumped out of the car, and although they didn't run, they were approaching me in a rapid fashion. I remembered the threat from the day before and thought she was making good on it. So what I did at that point was I ran back to the car, locked the door, and I was, since I was blocked in, I was going to try and drive through the grass to get out of harm's way. The first gear that hitit was an automaticwas reverse. The car jerked back a couple of feet, and one of the men was between the two cars at the that time. He saw the car lurch back and jumped up on the hood of his vehicle, and I momentarily pinned his foot between the two vehicles. Fortunately for all of us, the car had a polyurethane rear bumper. He was not injured. At that point, I managed to get the car into first gear and started to make a turn to get out. He jumped off the hood of his car into my path, drew a gun, and leveled it at me through the windshield. At that point, he identified himself as with thehe was a county deputy with the Sheriff's Department, so I was relieved that it was not the situation that I thought. He ordered me out of the car. I put the car into park, immediately got out of the car, did not resist. I was immediately placed under arrest, and the subsequent charges of Aggravated Battery against an LEO were filed. Actually, the charges that were actually filed were Aggravated Battery instead of Aggravated Battery against an LEO supposedly because they had notthey realized that nobody had identified themselves prior to the time that they leveled a gun at me. After the situation was explained, they still were not willing to drop the charges at that point but the case was referred for diversion, and a year later, the charges were dropped. At the time of the incident, Petitioner was thirty-six years of age. The report of each deputy indicates that Petitioner attempted to run over one deputy and then attempted to flee by trying to drive across the lawn. The deputies' reports say that Petitioner did not stop until an officer drew his weapon and ordered Petitioner from the car. We generally give some weight to credibility determinations made by fact-finders who had an opportunity to observe witnesses, but we are free to review the testimony de novo, see Disciplinary Bd. of Hawaii Supreme Court v. Bergan, 60 Haw. 546, 592 P.2d 814 (1979), and make our own determination of credibility. Our determination here is not different from the hearing panel's determination. More importantly, we note that negligently, carelessly, or intentionally using an automobile to escape from real or imagined danger, in a manner that puts the lives of others at risk, and that actually pins a person between cars in the circumstances related by the officers and Petitioner is a record of conduct that evidences a deficiency in trustworthiness or respect for the requirements of the law, and it is not a record of conduct [that] justifies the trust of clients, adversaries, courts and others with respect to the professional duties owed to them. See RSCH 1.3(c) (set out above); Cf. In re Silva, 266 Neb. 419, 665 N.W.2d 592 (2003) (Applicant with history of assaultive behavior, including misdemeanor convictions that he did not fully disclose on his law school application, denied admission. In light of strong, favorable references, applicant was authorized to reapply in two years.); In re Matthews, 94 N.J. 59, 462 A.2d 165 (1983) (Applicant who participated in Ponzi scheme and did not file tax returns denied admission, although eight years had passed, he had made restitution, and the court was unable to conclude definitely that he knew the fraudulent nature of the Ponzi scheme. Pattern of activity bespoke of avarice, selfishness, extraordinary incredulity, and indifference to the welfare and individuals relying on him.).