Opinion ID: 4540255
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hearing on motion to suppress

Text: At the beginning of the April 2, 2015 hearing, the State took the position that no evidence should be presented on the dog sniff issue because it was “contained within the search warrant.” The circuit court agreed that “the review is based on the four corners of the warrant,” and stated it was not going to take evidence on the dog sniff. Citing Groves, 65 Haw. 104, 649 P.2d 366 and Snitkin, 67 Haw. 168, 681 P.2d 980, the circuit court found that the dog sniff of the airspace around the car 9  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  was appropriate, and it denied the motion to suppress regarding the use of the drug-sniffing dog. At the hearing, Ikimaka called Officers Hsu, Agbayani, and Telles as witnesses, who testified in relevant part to the following additional facts. On October 13, 2014 at around 2:33 a.m., Officer Hsu received information from dispatch about a 911 call made by Numazawa alleging that Ikimaka had struck her, taken her purse, and left in a gold Chevy truck from Kamalani Bridge. After stopping Ikimaka, Office Hsu asked Ikimaka and Henderson to exit the truck. It was “raining off and on.” At the time Officer Hsu stopped Ikimaka, KPD had not spoken with Numazawa. After approximately 30 minutes, Officer Tamagawa, who was familiar with Numazawa, and Officer Telles located Numazawa on the beach. The officers spoke with Numazawa, who told them Ikimaka took her purse and that she wanted it back. However, she did not want to press charges and did not want Ikimaka arrested. After Officer Hsu was informed through dispatch that Numazawa had been located and that Numazawa did not want to press charges, he contacted Sergeant Nesbitt. Officer Hsu and Sergeant Nesbitt determined they had probable cause to seize the truck for theft based on Numazawa’s 911 call and her statements to the police. Sergeant Nesbitt also mentioned to Officer Hsu 10  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  that Numazawa had a prior drug history. Sergeant Nesbitt told Officer Hsu that one reason to seize the truck was Numazawa’s drug history, but “the main reason was because of the theft that occurred.” The truck’s windows were down at the time of seizure. At that point in time, Officer Hsu did not think he had probable cause to seize the truck for drugs. Ikimaka asked if he could retrieve the purse from his vehicle and return it to Numazawa. Numazawa also later arrived at the scene and asked if she could retrieve the purse from the truck. However, Officer Hsu “wasn’t going to let [Ikimaka] go back in the vehicle to grab the purse” because KPD had already seized the vehicle as evidence. After the conversation with Sergeant Nesbitt, Officer Hsu told Ikimaka and Henderson that they were not being arrested today, and that they could go. However, Ikimaka chose to stay, and Officer Agbayani read him his Miranda rights. Ikimaka initially indicated he did not want to make a statement. However, he then apparently spontaneously said to Officer Agbayani, “I have [Numazawa’s] bag in my truck. Can you just arrest me for theft and don’t take my truck?”