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Attempted robbery is a crime when you attempt or threaten force, just not when you actually use force

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  State v. Sing (HSC June 28, 2024) Background. John Sing and Abraham Sionesini were charged with robbery in the second degree. Wesley Mau was sitting on a bench in Waikiki when Sing and Sionesini came up to him. Sionesini said, “I want your watch” and grabbed the watch on Mau’s wrist. Mau pulled his arm away. Sing says “so what? You gonna call the police?” and lightly smacks Mau’s face. Then Sing and Sionesini walked away from Mau. The police arrested them later that night. Sing was charged with robbery in the second degree. HRS § 708-841(1)(a). At trial, the circuit court, at the request of the prosecution and over Sing’s objection, instructed the jury that if they found Sing not guilty of robbery or could not reach a unanimous decision, it must consider the included offense of attempted robbery in the second degree. The jury came back with the included offense. Judge James S. Kawashima was the trial judge. Sing appealed and the ICA affirmed.   The Hawai‘i Penal Code has a p
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HSC strikes down proof-of-compliance hearings for defendants who aren’t on probation and haven’t defaulted

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  State v. Fay (HSC June 17, 2024) Background. Melissa Fay crashed her car into a tree and was charged with traffic offenses in the district court. She pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of an intoxicant, driving without insurance, and the amended charge of criminal property damage in the fourth degree. She also agreed to pay restitution. Kahului Auto Sales, Inc., owned the car and made a restitution claim. The Judiciary’s Monetary Restitution Program recommended that Fay pay $6,504. The parties agreed to the amount and the district court issued an order for restitution in that amount at a rate of $50.00 per month.   The district court with the Hon. Judge Lauren Akitake presiding ordered Fay to return to court in six months if the amount was not paid off. The court told Fay that the hearings would be ongoing until it was paid off. Fay objected, but the hearing was set. Fay appealed. The ICA affirmed. Fay petitioned for further review.   The statutory procedure
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A divided jury can still be unanimous (sometimes)

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  State v. Tran (HSC June 4, 2024) Background. In 2006, the Hawai'i Constitution was amended to get around the ruling in State v. Arceo , 84 Hawai'i 1, 928 P.2d 843 (1996):   In continuous sexual assault crimes against minors younger than fourteen years of age, the legislature may define: 1. What behavior constitutes a continuing course of conduct; and 2. What constitutes the jury unanimity that is required for a conviction.   Haw. Const. Art. I, Sec. 25. With that the Legislature passed HRS § 707-733.6. The conduct element requires proof of “three or more acts of sexual penetration or sexual contact with a minor over a period of time, while the minor is under the age of fourteen years.” HRS § 707-733.6(1)(b). The jury need not be unanimous as to which of the three:   To convict under this section, the trier of fact, if a jury, need unanimously agree only that the requisite number of acts have occurred; the jury need not agree on which acts constitute the req
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Without expert testimony, prosecutors cannot say a witness looked "traumatized"

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  State v. Browder (HSC June 5, 2024) Background. Zeth Browder was charged with sexual assault in the first degree, sexual assault in the third degree, burglary, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence. The prosecution presented evidence that Browder sexually assaulted an elderly woman in her tent at a county park.   During her closing argument, the prosecutor—DPA Kristen Yamamoto—told the jury that the complaining witness’s testimony was credible and akin to a traumatized person:   [U]ltimately this case comes to one question. Is [the complaining witness] believable? . . . . [H]er demeanor, her candor, her lack of motive and is what she says makes sense, then the State submits that, yes, the answer to this question is that [the complaining witness] is believable. . . . . . . . She’s 80 years old. She was nervous, shaking on the witness stand. She was emotional and crying. She was scared. She told you she was scared that morning. She was scared at the hospital. She w
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ICA orders new trial where prosecutor tells jury it’s blood without proving it’s blood; upholds denial of pretrial defense motions.

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  State v. Willis (ICA April 30, 2024) Background. Erik Willis was indicted for attempted murder in the second degree. This case goes back to 2020, when a 17-year-old girl was found on a Kahala Beach with stab wounds to her stomach. She survived. The police found surveillance footage showing that before she was found a “fair-skinned man, with dark curly hair, a blue disposable face mask, a clean white t-shirt, tan pants, and dark colored shoes with white striping on the side” was near the area. Footage from a bus showed the man getting on the bus and heading to the Kahala beach he got out off the bus approximately twenty minutes before the woman was found. More footage showed that at around the time the woman was found the man was running from the beach to a sink and appeared to “wash himself off.” At around 4 p.m., the man is seen with a soiled t-shirt sitting on the bus. HPD officer Matthew Motas watched the footage and identified the man as Willis.           The police arrested
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If you're going to set bail, it has to be reasonable and can't be excessive so $3.3 million won't work

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  State v. Carter (ICA March 6, 2024) Background. Samuel Carter was indicted for attempted murder in the second degree and firearms offenses. He was held in jail without bail. About four months later, Carter filed a motion for supervised release or, in the alternative, a motion to set bail. Carter argued that there had been no findings supporting the decision to hold him without bail. The prosecution opposed and attached a letter to the Circuit Court noting that there had been no bail report because of the no-bail determination. According to the pretrial services intake center, it would not assess Carter’s eligibility for supervised release unless and until the court sets bail first.   At the hearing on the motion, Carter asked that bail be set at $100,000. The prosecution objected and argued that there was a rebuttable presumption of detention, Carter posed a danger to the community, and there was a flight risk. The prosecution did maintain that even though he could be held wit
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