Hawai'i Legal News

  State v. Skapinok (HSC June 3, 2022) Background. Leah Skapinok was charged with driving under the influence. One summer’s night, Officer William Meredith saw a white Toyota Tacoma speeding down King Street. He followed it onto Ward Avenue and saw it weaving before getting onto the H-1. Once on the freeway, he saw it cross the solid white line and move across three lanes without signaling. Officer Meredith pulled the truck over. Skapinok was the driver. Officer Meredith smelled booze on her and saw she had red, watery, bloodshot eyes.   Officer Meredith believed he had enough to arrest her for reckless driving, but he didn’t. He instead asked if she was willing to participate in the field sobriety tests. She was argumentative at first but gave in when Officer Meredith told her that if she did not, she would be arrested. Corporal Ernest Chang showed up and talked to Officer Meredith. Corp. Chang agreed that there was probable cause to arrest for reckless driving. ...

  State v. Manion (HSC June 3, 2022) Background. Daniel Manion was charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant. He moved to suppress evidence of the field sobriety tests performed outside his vehicle in the middle of the night. A resident in Hawai'i Kai called the police after hearing a car crash. Police arrived and found Manion sitting in a crashed car. Officer Corey Morgan asked Manion if he was injured. Manion said he was not. He was just having a rough day. He also said he drank a “40” at Sandy’s and was on his way home. He said he crashed his car because he was texting. Officer Morgan smelled booze and saw that Manion had red, watery eyes. Officer Morgan believed he had probable cause at this point to arrest Manion for drunk driving.   Officer Morgan asked Manion to get out of the car. Manion complied. He asked if he was willing to submit to standard field sobriety tests. He said he would. Then Officer Morgan asked him the medical rule-out questions—q...

OVERRULED!   State v. Sagapolutele-Silva (HSC June 3, 2022) Background. Tiana Sagapolutele-Silva was driving on the H-1 one night with four other passengers. Officer Franchot Termeteet clocked her going 77 mph in a 45-mph zone and saw her drifting between lanes without signaling. Officer Termeteet testified at a suppression hearing that he knew he had probable cause to stop and arrest the driver for excessive speeding and that she was not free to leave. Officer Termeteet pulled her over.   He smelled booze coming from the vehicle but was uncertain if it was emanating from Sagapolutele-Silva or the passengers. He saw that Sagapolutele-Silva had red, watery, and glassy eyes and when asked to produce a license, she could not. He asked her to step out of the car. She complied. Then he asked if she would participate in the standard field sobriety tests. She would.   Officer Termeteet also testified that before taking the field sobriety tests, officers must ask eight...

  State v. Kwong (HSC March 4, 2021) Background. Maggie Kwong was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. At her trial, Honolulu Police Department Officer Josh Wong testified that at around 3:30 a.m. he was traveling on Kapiolani Boulevard about 30 feet from the intersection with Isenberg street when Kwong abruptly cut him off by moving her vehicle from the right lane to the middle land and then into the far-left lane all without using her signal. According to Officer Wong, Kwong moved between his vehicle and a pick up truck that was turning left onto Isenberg Street. Officer Wong testified that he slammed on his breaks to avoid colliding into the back of Kwong’s vehicle and that “whatever was on my seat that wasn’t fastened, all the stuff went onto the floorboard.” He pulled Kwong over, got her out of the car, subjected her to field sobriety maneuvers, and determined that she failed those maneuvers.   On cross-examination, Officer Wong co...

OVERRULED IN PART (the Miranda  part) State v. Hewitt (ICA February 16, 2021) Background. Cyrina Hewitt was charged with driving under the influence and driving without a license. Hawai'i County Police Department Officer Chandler Nacino went to the Kona Community Hospital emergency room at around 1:00 a.m. on July 3, 2014 to investigate a possible assault. Hospital staff informed him that Hewitt was dropped off there by an unknown male. Officer Nacino went to see Hewitt at her bedside. Hewitt was lying in a hospital bed and awake. She was disoriented. The officer saw she had contusions on her face and her eyes were swollen shut. She also had a cut on her ear. She provided Officer Nacino with her name and date of birth, but she did not know where she was or why she was in the hospital. The officers tried to question her. They asked if she was assaulted and she provided incoherent answers. According to Officer Nacino, she “appeared to be out of it and had slurred speech.” She told...

  Wolcott v. Administrative Director of the Courts, State of Hawai'i (HSC December 21, 2020) Background. Justin Wolcott was arrested for operating a vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicant. Wolcott refused to submit his blood or breath for chemical testing to determine his blood-alcohol concentration. Because he refused, the police informed of the following:   If you refuse to take any tests and your record to operate a vehicle shows three or more prior alcohol or drug enforcement contacts during the ten years preceding the date the notice of administrative revocation was issued, your license and privilege to operate a vehicle will be revoked for ten years.   Wolcott was informed that an “alcohol enforcement contact” meant any revocation order, a conviction for OUI in Hawai'i or any other jurisdiction. Wolcott signed the acknowledgement.   Weeks later the Administrative Driver’s License Revocation Office conducted a review of the case and re...