Keawe v. State

901 P.2d 481, 79 Haw. 281
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 2, 1995
Docket17405
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 901 P.2d 481 (Keawe v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keawe v. State, 901 P.2d 481, 79 Haw. 281 (haw 1995).

Opinion

RAMIL, Justice.

Petitioner-Appellant Jeffrey Keawe appeals from the circuit court’s resentencing order. Keawe argues that his amended sentence, after a successful Hawai'i Rules of Penal Procedure (HRPP) Rule 40 challenge, was “an enhancement of [his] original sentence” and therefore violated the double *282 jeopardy clauses of the Hawai'i and United States Constitutions. For the reasons stated below, we reject Keawe’s argument and affirm the circuit court’s resentencing order.

I. FACTS

On September 30, 1987, Keawe was charged with one count of theft in the second degree (Criminal No. 87-1296) in violation of Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 708-831 (as amended 1986). 1 See 1986 Haw.Sess. Laws Act 314, § 64 at 624-25. On January 18, 1988, he was charged -with two counts of theft in the first degree in violation of HRS § 708-831 (1985) 2 and eleven counts of forgery in the second degree (Criminal No. 88-0060) in violation of HRS § 708-852 (1985). 3 On March 2, 1988, Keawe entered no contest pleas to all of the charges against him in both criminal cases.

On April 6, 1988, the circuit court entered judgments of conviction and sentence in both Criminal Nos. 87-1296 and 88-0060. In the first criminal case, Criminal No. 87-1296, the circuit court sentenced Keawe to incarceration for an extended term of ten years, with a one year and eight month minimum term of imprisonment, and to pay restitution in the amount of $8,000. In the second criminal case, Criminal No. 88-0060, the court sentenced Keawe to incarceration for an extended term of ten years as to each count, to run concurrently with each other, with a three-year minimum term of imprisonment, and to pay restitution in the amount of $10,538. Lastly, the sentences in Criminal Nos. 87-1296 and 88-0060 were to be served concurrently with each other. 4

On January 26, 1993, Keawe filed a Petition for Post-Conviction Relief under HRPP Rule 40. Keawe argued that the extended term sentence was illegal because the court failed to give him any written notification of the possibility of an extended term as required by HRS § 706-664 (Supp.1992). 5 On May 21, 1993, the court granted Keawe’s Rule 40 petition and vacated the sentences in both Criminal Nos. 87-1296 and 88-0060. See State v. Schroeder, 76 Hawai'i 517, 527-28, 880 P.2d 192, 202-03 (1994) and State v. Huelsman, 60 Haw. 71, 76-77, 79-80, 588 *283 P.2d 394, 398-400 (1978) (“HRS § 706-664 requires a hearing on notice to the defendant as a prerequisite to imposition of a sentence of imprisonment for an extended term[.]”), reh’g denied, 60 Haw. 308, 588 P.2d 407 (1979).

At the July 28, 1993 resentencing hearing, the circuit court resentenced Keawe to a five-year indeterminate term of imprisonment in each criminal case with the terms to run consecutively. 6 In resentencing Keawe, the circuit court stated:

A very important factor in this Court’s consideration in sentencing [Keawe] is his prior convictions. He has a very serious record of prior convictions. According to the presentence report, [Keawe] was convicted on March 11, 1980 in Maui County under Criminal 5800 of one count of Forgery, two counts of Theft in the First Degree, and one count of Credit Card Fraud. And he was put on probation. And then at a later time, that probation was revoked; he was sentenced to prison.
He was convicted on December 15, 1988 of seven counts of Forgery, one count of Theft in the First Degree, in [Hawai'i] County. In Criminal Number 86-0426, he was convicted again in Maui County under Criminal 88-0090 on October 12,1988 of 17 counts of Forgery and one count of Theft in the First Degree.
With a record like that, we now approach sentencing in this case. The Court feels that [Keawe], with a record like that, is a danger to the property of others in the community and should be sentenced to a consecutive term of imprisonment with respect to the two cases.
I understand your argument, [defense counsel], that you feel he’s being punished more severely. However, Judge Town sentenced him to extended terms of imprisonment without giving him proper notice, and I [do] not believe that a consecutive term of imprisonment under the circumstances violates his Constitutional rights.
Accordingly, the court in Criminal 88-0060 will sentence [Keawe] to be transferred to the custody of the Department of Public Safety for — that is, in Counts I and II — Counts I through [X] III for indeterminate terms of imprisonment not to exceed five years, [concurrently with each other] with the [Hawai'i] Paroling Authority to determine the minimum term of imprisonment.
And the Court will sentence [Keawe] in Criminal 87-1296 to be transferred to the custody of the Department of Public Safety for an indeterminate term of imprisonment not to exceed five years, with the [Hawai'i] Paroling Authority to determine the minimum term of imprisonment with the terms of imprisonment in Criminal 88-0060 to run concurrent[ly] with each other for each count but consecutively] to the term of imprisonment in Criminal 87-1296.
Now, I’ll tell you very frankly, I would have considered an extended term of imprisonment. But there were proof problems. The files come from island counties. And although I could take judicial notice of some of the matters in the files, I was concerned that there may be difficulty with one or more elements that have to be established, bearing in mind the files come *284 from other island counties and could not be established simply by taking judicial notice of the documents in the files. Otherwise, I would have sentenced him as Judge Town did.
Mr. Keawe has established by his past record that he’s not — at least was not an honest person, to make an understatement. Whether or not this trait still exists, I don’t know. But under the circumstances, it’s reasonable to conclude that he’s a real danger to the community. And I think the parole authority should be aware of this Court’s opinion that he’s a danger to the property of other people in the community.
I think he’s still a danger based on his past conduct. And frankly, I’m going to give input to the parole authority as to the opinion of the Court.

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Bluebook (online)
901 P.2d 481, 79 Haw. 281, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keawe-v-state-haw-1995.