HSC Weighs in on Difference Between "Public" and "the Public"
State v. Kaeo (HSC December 29, 2021) Background. Samuel Kaeo went to a base yard in central Maui with other protestors. He linked arms with the protestors and lied down on the road blocking a convoy of trucks bound for the summit of Haleakala. It was a demonstration to protest and temporarily halt construction of a telescope there. About twenty convoy workers were inconvenienced. Police arrested Kaeo and he was charged with disorderly conduct. The district court—the Hon. Judge Blaine Kobayashi—convicted him and sentenced him to pay a fine of $200 and $30 in court fees. Kaeo appealed. The ICAaffirmed, but Judge Karen Nakasone dissented. The HSC accepted the application for certiorari. The Real Victims of the Disorderly Conduct Offense. A person commits the offense of disorderly conduct when the person, “with the intent to cause physical inconvenience or alarm by a member or members of the public . . ., creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which i