Akiona v. Administrative Director of the Courts
This text of Akiona v. Administrative Director of the Courts (Akiona v. Administrative Director of the Courts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
Electronically Filed Intermediate Court of Appeals CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX 07-NOV-2025 08:02 AM Dkt. 42 SO NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS
OF THE STATE OF HAWAI I
BRANDON M.K. AKIONA, Petitioner-Appellant, v. ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR OF THE COURTS, Respondent-Appellee
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT HONOLULU DIVISION (CASE NO. 1DAA-23-00004)
SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER (By: Nakasone, Chief Judge, Leonard and Wadsworth, JJ.) Petitioner-Appellant Brandon Akiona (Akiona) appeals
from the September 1, 2023 Judgment on Appeal (Judgment) entered
by the District Court of the First Circuit, Honolulu Division
(District Court).1 Akiona also challenges the District Court's
September 1, 2023 Decision and Order Sustaining Administrative
Revocation.
Akiona raises a single point of error on appeal,
contending that the District Court erred when it ruled that the
police do not have an affirmative duty to provide a legal way to
avoid a police DUI roadblock.
1 The Honorable Shellie K. Park-Hoapili presided. NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
Upon careful review of the record and the briefs
submitted by the parties, and having given due consideration to
the arguments advanced and the issues raised by the parties, we
resolve Akiona's point of error as follows:
Akiona argues, variously, that the plurality opinion in
State v. Heapy, 113 Hawai i 283, 151 P.3d 764 (2007), must be
interpreted to require that police officers, when erecting a DUI
roadblock, provide a driver approaching the roadblock with a way
to legally avoid the roadblock and sufficient notice so that the
driver can avail themself of that legal route.
Akiona does not cite to, nor do we find, language in
the plurality opinion, the concurring opinion, or the cases
discussed in Heapy that holds that police must provide motorists
with a legal method of avoiding a roadblock. Although we
recognize, as the plurality recognized in Heapy, that the Hawai i
Constitution provides greater protections against unreasonable
search and seizure, as well as greater privacy rights, these
protections have not been held to include an alternative route by
which a driver can avoid a roadblock. See generally Heapy, 113
Hawai i 283, 151 P.3d 764; see also Respicio v. Admin. Dir. of
Cts., CAAP-17-851, 2019 WL 2121300, at *1 (Haw. App. May 15,
2019) (SDO) (holding that Heapy does not require police to
provide alternate, legal route to avoid roadblock). Accordingly,
we conclude that the District Court did not err in concluding
that police do not have an affirmative duty to provide a legal
way to avoid a DUI roadblock.
2 NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
Therefore, the District Court's September 1, 2023
Judgment is affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai i, November 7, 2025.
/s/ Karen T. Nakasone Chief Judge
/s/ Katherine G. Leonard Associate Judge
/s/ Clyde J. Wadsworth Associate Judge
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