Court Opinion

ID: 9536048
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:53:51.596331+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:26.321720
License: Public Domain

NAKAYAMA, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur with the majority opinion except as to part III.E. Because ■ I believe that Ganal’s conviction in Count II for the attempted first degree murder of Mabel Ganal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Touchette does not merge with his conviction in Count I for the first degree murder of Aradina Dela Cruz, Santiago Dela Cruz, Joshua Touchette and Kalah Touchette, I respectfully dissent from part III.E.
After the jury returned a verdict of guilty for Count I (first degree murder) and Count II (attempted first degree murder), Ganal filed a motion to dismiss Count II, arguing that, under Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 701-109, separate charges for a completed crime and an attempt to commit that same crime must merge when the defendant has been convicted for the completed crime. The trial judge denied Ganal’s motion, because Counts I and II involved two different sets of victims, two different statutory offenses, as well as independent facts. Today the majority reverses the judge’s decision, holding that Counts I and II must merge pursuant to HRS §§ 701-109(l)(a) and (4)(b) because the majority believes Ganal had a “single intent” with respect to all seven of his intended victims. In contrast with the majority, however, I agree with the trial court that merger is not applicable in the instant case, because Counts I and II involved two different sets of victims, two different statutory offenses, as well as independent facts.
Because the unique' language of HRS § 707-701(l)(a) (Supp.1992) provides that “[a] person commits the offense of murder in the first degree if the person intentionally or knowingly causes the death of ... [mjore than one person in the same or separate incident” (emphasis added), the majority starts with a premise that “the jury’s verdicts of guilty with regard to the first degree murder and attempted first degree murder charges necessarily included a finding that Ganal possessed a single intent to kill the specific group of victims named in each count.” Majority at 379, 917 P.2d at 391. With this premise in mind, the majority focuses on the fact that Ganal set fire to the Touchette home in Kailua when all four of the Touchettes were together, and as a consequence Joshua and Kalah Touchette immediately died and became named victims in the first degree murder count, while Michael1 and Wendy Touchette survived and became named victims in the attempted first degree murder count. The majority believes “it is impossible for anyone logically to conclude that Ganal, having started a single fire at the Touchette home in Kailua, possessed anything other than a single intent to cause the death of all of the victims therein,” and thus, “Ganal possessed a single intent to cause the death of all of the victims named in both the first degree murder and attempted first degree murder counts of the indictment.” Majority at 381, 917 P.2d at 393. The majority concludes that, because it believes Ganal possessed a “single intent” to cause the deaths of all of the victims in both counts, Count I *386and Count II- must merge pursuant to HRS §§ 701-109(l)(a) and (4)(b). Majority at 383, 917 P.2d at 395.
However, regardless of whether Ganal possessed a “single intent” with respect to all seven of his intended victims, Counts I and II should not merge pursuant to HRS §§ 701-109(l)(a) and (4)(b) (1985):
§ 701-109 Method of prosecution when conduct establishes an element of more than one offense. (1) When the same conduct of a defendant may establish an element of more than one offense, the defendant may be prosecuted for each offense of which such conduct is an element. He may not, however, he convicted of more than one offense if:
(a) One offense is included in the other, as defined in subsection (4) of this section; ....
(4) A defendant may be convicted of an offense included in an offense charged in the indictment or the information. An offense is so included when:
(b) It consists of an attempt to commit the offense charged or to commit an offense otherwise included therein; ....
(Emphasis added). Contrary to the majority’s assertion, Count II did not consist of Ganal’s attempt to commit Count I. While Count II charged Ganal with the attempted first degree murder of the three surviving victims, i.e., Mabel Ganal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Touchette, Count I charged Ga-nal with the first degree murder of four completely different persons, namely the four deceased victims: Aradina Déla Cruz, Santiago Déla Cruz, Joshua Touchette and Kalah Touchette. Counts I and II clearly involved different offenses, different victims, different proof, and different results, and thus, Counts I and II should not merge pursuant to HRS §§ 701-109(l)(a) and (4)(b).
According to R. Owens’ Alabama’s Minority Status: A Single Criminal Act Injuring Multiple Persons Constitutes Only a Single Offense, 16 Cumb.L.Rev. 85, 89-90 (1985-1986), a majority of jurisdictions allow multiple convictions when a defendant’s single volitional act injures multiple victims. Thus, analogous cases in other jurisdictions show that a count for attempted murder does not merge with a count for murder when the two counts involve two different sets of victims.
“As a general rule when different victims are involved, there is a corresponding number of distinct crimes.” Austin v. State, 271 N.W.2d 668, 672 (Wis.1978) (emphasis added), disapproved on other grounds by State v. Poellinger, 451 N.W.2d 752, 757 (Wis.1990). Thus, in Austin the Supreme Court of Wisconsin affirmed a defendant’s conviction for both the attempted first degree murder of a man named Simmons and the first degree murder of a man named Wortham, even though both offenses were the result of the defendant’s single intent to kill Simmons and his single volitional act of firing a shotgun blast in the direction of Simmons that “only slightly injured Simmons but killed Willie Wortham, a friend of the defendant’s who happened to be standing near Simmons at the time.” Austin, 271 N.W.2d at 669. The defendant “arguefd] that his conviction for both murder and attempted murder was barred by” statutes that “define[d] an included crime as ‘an attempt ... to commit the crime charged.’ ” Id. at 672. The defendant further argued “that because of the ‘transfer of intent’ which is part of the first-degree murder statute, the attempt to kill Simmons [and] the actual killing of Wortham [we]re part of the same act and part of the same crime of the first-degree murder of Wort-ham.” Id. (emphasis added). Nevertheless, the Austin court held that, “[s]ince an attempt does require proof of a fact (some extraneous act preventing the completed crime) not required for conviction of the completed crime, conviction for both is proper ... where there are two victims.” Id. (emphasis added).
The statutes cited by the defendant address the situation in which there is only one victim and quite sensibly preclude conviction for both the successful and the attempted murder of the same victim. In such a case, the attempted murder truly is the inchoate form of the murder. It is anomalous to contend that the attempted murder of Simmons is actually the murder of Wortham in ckoate form. Taking a *387common sense view, we conclude this argument is without merit.
Id. (emphasis added).
Likewise, the Court of Appeals of Indiana affirmed a defendant’s conviction for both the murder of a man named Allison and the attempted murder of another man named Lark, even though the defendant “had only one intent to kill, the intent to kill Lark[.]” Butler v. State, 622 N.E.2d 1036, 1038 (Ind.Ct.App.1993) (emphasis added). The defendant had aimed and fired his gun at Lark, but in the last split-second Lark had pushed Allison into the deadly path of the on-coming bullet, causing Allison to suffer a fatal chest wound. With respect to the two separate offenses of (1) the murder of Allison and (2) the attempted murder of Lark, the Butler court noted that “the State was required, for each offense, to prove an additional fact which the other offense did not require, namely the identity of separate victims.” Id. (emphasis added). “Even if it were correct to argue that [the defendant] harbored only one intent, the intent to kill Lark, he will not find relief under double jeopardy where, as here, he committed two separate offenses.” Id. (emphasis added). “Each of the offenses included one element not included in the other — a different victim. The offenses, therefore, do not merge and [the defendant] may properly be sentenced separately and consecutively for each offense.” Id. (emphasis added).
Where a defendant had fired a single bullet at a car, killing one passenger and injuring a second passenger in the hip, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the defendant’s conviction for, among other things, the first degree murder of the dead passenger and the assault with intent to murder the injured passenger. United States v. Shaw, 701 F.2d 367, 396-97 (5th Cir.1983), cert. denied, Shaw v. United States, 465 U.S. 1067, 104 S.Ct. 1419, 79 L.Ed.2d 744 (1984). The defendant “claim[ed] that Count Four, charging him with assault with intent to murder, [wa]s multiplicitous to Count Two which charged him with first degree murder, because one discharge of a firearm should result in one punishment, even if two people are hit by the bullet.” Id. at 396 (emphasis added). However, the Fifth Circuit held that a “single act may cause more than a single consequence; therefore, a defendant may be convicted of two separate offenses arising from a single act so long as each requires proof of a fact not essential to the other.” Id. (emphasis). “Here, [the defendant] is charged under two discrete federal statutes with causing two distinct types of harm to two different persons.” Id. at 397 (emphasis added). The defendant’s “conviction on both counts was proper.” Id.
Similarly in the instant case, Ganal was charged with committing murder and attempted murder against two different sets of victims: (1) the deceased victims of Count I, and (2) the surviving victims of Count II. These two sets of victims were certainly no more fungible than the two different types of harm that they suffered. Each of the two sets of victims represented a separate and distinct interest of society. Therefore, even where Ganal utilized a single volitional act to simultaneously harm both sets of victims, Ganal invaded at least two separate and distinct interests of society.
Here, this is important because, like the defendants in the above cases, Ganal invaded two separate and distinct interests of society by violating two different statutory offenses: (1) first degree murder under HRS § 707-701(l)(a) (Supp.1992), and (2) attempted first degree murder under-HRS § 705-500 (1985). When these two different statutory offenses concern two different sets of victims, the consummating element of death clearly distinguishes the deceased victims of first degree murder from the surviving victims of attempted first degree murder. Thus, while the prosecution had to show that Ganal’s actions caused the deaths of Aradina Dela Cruz, Santiago Dela Cruz, Joshua Touchette and Kalah Touchette in order to convict Ga-nal of first degree murder in Count I, the prosecution did not have to make such a showing in order to convict Ganal of the attempted first degree murder of Mabel Ga-nal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Touchette in Count II.
In addition to first degree murder having the consummating element of death, first degree murder also differs from attempted *388first degree murder in that a completed crime has a different state of mind element than an attempted crime. “To constitute an attempt, the inchoate behavior must be intentional, i.e., purposeful.” Commentary to HRS § 705-500 (1985); see also State v. Faulkner, 61 Haw. 177, 178, 599 P.2d 285, 286 (1979) (“Intent is an essential element of the crime of criminal attempt”). Accordingly, Ganal’s conviction for attempted first degree murder in Count II required the jury to find that Ganal acted with the specific intent to kill Mabel Ganal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Touchette. Cf. State v. Mendonca, 68 Haw. 280, 285, 711 P.2d 731, 735 (1985). In contrast with an attempted murder, a completed murder is a “general intent” crime. Cf. State v. Kane, 3 Haw.App. 450, 457-58 n. 5, 652 P.2d 642, 647 n. 5 (1982). The jury did not have to find that Ganal acted with an “intentional” state of mind in order to convict Ganal of first degree murder in Count I, but rather, the jury merely needed to find that Ganal acted “knowingly” when he killed Aradina Dela Cruz, Santiago Dela Cruz, Joshua Touchette and Kalah Tou-chette. HRS § 707-701(1) (Supp.1992).
The difference between acting intentionally ... and knowingly ... is narrow but nonetheless distinct. The distinction lies in the fact that intent is characterized by a conscious object to engage in certain conduct or cause a certain result whereas knowledge is characterized by an awareness that conduct is of a certain type or that a certain result will almost certainly obtain. While knowledge will in most instances suffice to establish penal liability, there are a limited number of offenses which require an intent to effect a particular result.
Commentary to HRS § 702-206 (1985) (emphasis added). Thus, in addition to the consummating element of death, first degree murder and attempted first degree murder also differ in that they have different state of mind elements. Ganal clearly committed two different statutory offenses.
Finally, Ganal committed independent acts with respect to Counts I and II. For example, Ganal fired separate and independent gun shots at Aradina and Santiago Dela Cruz (deceased victims in Count I) and Mabel Ganal (a surviving victim in Count II). Each of Ganal’s gun shots constituted a separate and independent act. And as stated, Ganal also committed different “acts” in that he killed the deceased victims of Count I while he tried but failed to kill the surviving victims of Count II. “[W]here a defendant in the context of one criminal scheme or transaction commits several acts independently violative of one or more statutes, he may be punished for all of them if charges are properly consolidated by the State in one trial.” State v. Pilago, 65 Haw. 22, 24, 649 P.2d 363, 365 (1982) (emphasis added) (affirming a conviction for possession of a prohibited firearm, receiving, retaining or disposing of stolen property (firearm), and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of certain crimes); State v. Pia, 55 Haw. 14, 19, 514 P.2d 580, 585 (1973) (holding that a prosecution for both (a) assault or battery on a police officer in the performance of his duties with the intent to obstruct the officer in the discharge of those duties and (b) willful interference with a police officer while such officer is lawfully executing his duties did not violate the prohibition against double jeopardy). Counts I and II were adjudicated within the same trial, and the record shows that Ganal committed at least two separate “acts” independently violative of more than one statute. Under these circumstances, merger pursuant to HRS §§ 701-109(l)(a) and (4)(b) is clearly unwarranted.
Merger pursuant to HRS §§ 701-109(l)(a) and (4)(b) addresses a different situation than the instant case in which a defendant is charged with both the first degree murder and the attempted first degree murder of a single set of victims, all of whom die. Under such circumstances, merger quite sensibly precludes conviction for both the completed and the attempted first degree murder of the same victims, because attempted first degree murder is the inchoate form of the first degree murder.
In the instant case, however, where Count I involves only Ganal’s deceased victims and Count II involves only Ganal’s surviving victims, it is anomalous for the majority to contend that the attempted murder of the *389surviving victims is actually the murder of the deceased victims in choate form. Thus, it is clearly wrong for the majority to merge these two different statutory offenses when, as here, Ganal was charged with causing two different types of harm to two different sets of victims, through various independent acts.
The majority insists that the merger of all multiple-victim first degree murder charges is required because the majority believes that a first degree murderer necessarily has a “single intent” with respect to all of the intended victims. For example, the majority states the following:
If the trier of fact determines that the defendant had possessed separate intents to kill four individuals, four separate convictions for second degree murder for each of the victims would be proper, and one conviction for first degree murder for the four victims as a group, or two convictions for two groups of two people, would not be proper.
Majority at 384, 917 P.2d at 396. However, neither the language nor the legislative history of HRS § 707-701(l)(a) requires that a murderer must have a “single intent” with respect to all of the intended victims in order to support a conviction for first degree murder, and thus, the majority cannot and does not cite any statutory language or legislative history supporting its flawed interpretation.
In 1986, when the Hawai'i legislature enacted the statutory offense of first degree murder by amending HRS § 707-701, the Hawai'i legislature specifically intended “that persons convicted of serial killings be subject to life imprisonment without parole.” Conf.Comm.Rep. No. 51-86 in 1986 House Journal at 937, and in 1986 Senate Journal at 747 (emphasis added). Thus, “[t]he offense of murder in the first degree [wa]s expanded to include the killing of more than one person in separate incidents.” Conf.Comm.Rep. No. 51-86 in 1986 House Journal at 937, and in 1986 Senate Journal at 747 (emphasis added).
The fact that HRS § 707-701(l)(a) applies to “serial killings” resulting from “separate incidents” shows me that a murderer does not have to possess a “single intent” with respect to all of the intended victims in order to be guilty of first degree murder. Some serial killers intentionally kill their victims one person at a time, through separate incidents over the course of many years. By including “serial killings” and “separate incidents” within the sphere of HRS § 707-701(l)(a), the Hawai'i legislature clearly intended to make it easier for courts to hold persons accountable for first degree murder, regardless of whether they have a “single intent” with respect to all of their prospective victims.
The majority’s application of merger today also conflicts with the legislative intent of HRS § 701-707(l)(a) by effectively improving Ganal’s chances for obtaining parole after twenty years. When enacting HRS § 701-707(l)(a), the Hawai'i legislature specifically “intend[ed] that persons convicted of serial killings be subject to life imprisonment without parole.” Conf.Comm.Rep. No. 51-86 in 1986 House Journal at 937, and in 1986 Senate Journal at 747 (emphasis added). Although Ganal’s conviction for first degree murder has required Ganal to “be sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole[,]” HRS § 706-656(1) (1993), the phrase “life imprisonment without possibility of parole” does not necessarily mean that Ganal will spend the remainder of his life behind bars. “As part of such sentence the court shall order the director of the department of public safety and the Hawaii paroling authority to prepare an application for the governor to commute the sentence to life imprisonment with parole at the end of twenty years of imprisonment])]” Haw.Rev.Stat. § 706-656(1) (1993) (emphasis added). If the governor of Hawai'i commutes Ganal’s sentence to life imprisonment with parole, the Hawai'i paroling authority will review Ganal’s record in order to determine whether Ganal is worthy of parole. Due to the majority’s application of merger today, Ganal’s record will not show that he was convicted of the attempted first degree murder of Mabel Ga-nal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Tou-chette. Thus, Ganal’s record will not accurately reflect the magnitude of harm he has caused, and as a result, Ganal’s chances of obtaining parole will be improved. I do not believe this is the result that the Hawai'i *390legislature intended by enacting HRS § 707-701(l)(a).
The majority’s misapplication of merger today conflicts with the language and the legislative history of HRS § 707-701(l)(a) by allowing Ganal to escape accountability for his attempted first degree murder of Mabel Ganal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Tou-chette. Given the Hawaii legislature’s express intent to expand accountability for first degree murder, I do not believe that the Hawaii legislature intended to preclude vindication for those victims who somehow manage to survive the carnage of a first degree murderer’s “single intent” to kill “more than one person.”
It is more reasonable to assume the legislature intended that culpability have a relationship to the magnitude of the crime committed, including consideration of the number of victims. Otherwise, one who placed a bomb in an airline resulting in the deaths of dozens of people would be less severely punished than one who repeatedly fired a gun at a number of persons, with a similar resulting casualty figure.
State v. Mane, 783 P.2d 61, 64 (Utah Ct.App.1989) (affirming a defendant’s conviction for both first degree murder and aggravated assault, even though one victim's death and the other victim’s nonfatal injury were the result of the defendant’s single volitional act of firing one bullet at both victims).
All penal statutes must be accorded a limited and reasonable interpretation in order to preserve their overall purpose and to avoid absurd results. Cf. State v. Gaylord, 78 Hawai'i 127, 138, 890 P.2d 1167, 1178 (1995); State v. Taylor, 49 Haw. 624, 635, 425 P.2d 1014, 1021 (1967). The majority’s interpretation of merger today fails to preserve the overall purpose of Hawaii’s first degree murder statute and produces a patently absurd result in which Ganal escapes accountability for the attempted first degree murder of Mabel Ganal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Touchette, when, in fact, these people were clearly the victims of Ganal’s attempted first degree murder.
Substantial evidence in the record supports the jury’s conclusion that Ganal intentionally attempted to kill Mabel Ganal, Michael Touchette and Wendy Touchette. According to the language and legislative history of HRS § 707-701(l)(a), Ganal should be held accountable for attempted first degree murder. Contrary to the majority, I would affirm Ganal’s conviction for attempted first degree murder in Count II.

. Although Michael Touchette initially survived Ganal’s attack on August 25, 1991, and became a named victim of attempted first degree murder in Count II, he eventually died on September 23, 1991, as a result of complications related to severe burns over eighty percent of his body.