State v. Beltran

172 P.3d 458, 116 Haw. 146, 2007 Haw. LEXIS 341
Hawaii Supreme Court·Decided November 16, 2007·No. No. 26096·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

ACOBA, J.

Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant Marie Bel-tran (Petitioner) filed an application for writ of certiorari on July 81, 2007, requesting that this court review the judgment of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (the ICA) filed on May 3, 2007, pursuant to its April 5, 2007 published opinion1 vacating the November 10, 2003 judgment of the district court of the first circuit2 (the court) convicting Petitioner of Camping Without a Permit, and remanding the ease to the court to determine the classification of the offense with which Petitioner was charged. State v. Keawemauhili, 114 Hawai'i 100, 122, 157 P.3d 539, 561 (App.2007). According to the ICA, the camping regulation involved was not constitutionally overbroad or vague and the offense is one of absolute or strict liability under Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 702-213 (1993). Id. at 118, 121, 122, 157 P.3d at 557, 560, 561. The ICA ordered that if the charge against Petitioner did not allege a negligent state of mind element, the court shall enter judgment for camping without a permit as a civil violation under HRS § 702-213(1). Id. at 118, 157 P.3d at 557. If, however, the charge included a negligent or higher state of mind, the court shall enter judgment as a criminal petty misdemeanor offense of camping without a permit under HRS § 702-213(2). Id. at 122, 157 P.3d at 561.3 We hold that the camping regulation involved is overbroad and vague and with all due respect, reverse the ICA’s May 3, 2007 judgment and the November 10, 2003 judgment of the court.

I.

The following matters adduced, some verbatim, are from the record and the submissions of the parties.

On May 29, 2003, [Petitioner] appeared before the [court], along with John Keawe-mauhili (Keawemauhili) and Wendall Lucas (Lucas) to answer to citations for the offense of Camping [WJithout a Permit, in violation of Revised Ordinance of Honolulu (ROH) 10-l-3(a)(2). The parties collectively moved to dismiss the charges, challenging the camping ordinance as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and for improperly imposing criminal sanctions based on strict liability. ...
At the hearing on the motion to dismiss, the parties submitted the matter on the record. [Petitioner] and Lucas orally joined in Keawemauhili’s motion to dismiss which challenged the camping ordinance based on “Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss # 2” and “Defendant’s Amended Motion to Dismiss.” The declaration and the memorandum in support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss # 2 alleged that Keawemauhili was cited by Honolulu police officers at 10:00 p.m. on October 2, 2002 for camping without a permit at Mokuleia beach park in violation of “Hawai'i Revised Ordi[148] nances 10-1.3A(2) [sic].” In [Respondent’s] Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, the prosecutor stated: “Defendant was sleeping in a van next to a pitched tent."
... The prosecutor argued HRS § 702-204 applied to the ordinance designating a state of mind of intentional, knowing or recklessness....

(Some emphases in original and some added.)

Following argument on the motions to dismiss, the court denied the motions.

THE COURT: All right, the court agrees with [Respondent] that notwithstanding that the [ROH] does not specifically reference the particular MR requirement that the court can look towards 702-201 with respect to the mental state as to whether or not the defendants acted inten-. tionally, knowing[ly] or recklessly; therefore the court will deny the motions and find the [ROH] is not unconstitutional or that it’s defective or flawed on it’s face. So the court will deny the motions.
MR. KIM: Your Honor, I’m sorry to keep on dragging this but the fact that there’s two parts to the motion[s], the second part was that it was too overly broad, it wasn’t just the mens rea requirement.
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THE COURT: The [c]ourt will also deny the motion[s] based on those grounds, too.

The ICA related that procedurally, after denial of the motions to dismiss,

[t]he [court] then set all three cases for trial on the same date. Appellants thereafter entered conditional no-contest pleas that allowed them to appeal the denial of their motions to dismiss. The [court] accepted the pleas and entered separate judgments convicting Appellants as charged and sentencing each of them to pay a $20 fine, payment of which was suspended pending appeal. Appellants filed separate appeals, which [the ICA] consolidated pursuant to an order entered on December 2, 2005.

Id. at 105, 157 P.3d at 544 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted).

The Petition refers to ROH § 10-1.3 regarding camping permits and Amended Camping Policy, Rules and Regulations Governing Camping at City Parks § 3(5), City and County of Honolulu, Department of Parks and Recreation (1996) [hereinafter Rule or the Rule]. The relevant ROH states: Sec. 10-1.3 Permits.

(a) Required. Any person using the recreational and other areas and facilities under the control, maintenance, management and operation of the department of parks and recreation shall first obtain a permit from the department for the following uses:
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(2) Camping;
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(b) Director To Promulgate Rules and Regulations. The director shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to HRS chapter 91, to govern the use of said areas and facilities....
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(c) Conditions of Permit. Permits shall be issued pursuant to the provisions contained in this aHicle and to the rules and regulations promulgated by the director. ...

(Emphases added.) Also, ROH § 10-1.6 § 5 Penalties Violations—Penalty (d)(1), indicates that camping without a permit is a criminal offense and provides that any person violating any provision of these rules shall be punished by a fíne not exceeding $500 or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

As the ICA correctly notes, the camping ordinance does not contain a definition for “camping” or any state of mind with respect to the offense. A definition of “camping,” however, is contained in the Rule:

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State v. Beltran, 172 P.3d 458, 116 Haw. 146, 2007 Haw. LEXIS 341 (haw 2007).

172 P.3d 458 (State v. Beltran) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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