State v. Eid.

272 P.3d 1197, 126 Haw. 430, 2012 WL 503231, 2012 Haw. LEXIS 34
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 26, 2012
DocketSCWC-29587
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 272 P.3d 1197 (State v. Eid.) 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
State v. Eid., 272 P.3d 1197, 126 Haw. 430, 2012 WL 503231, 2012 Haw. LEXIS 34 (haw 2012).

Opinions

Opinion of the Court by

RECKTENWALD, J.

Hatem A. Eid was charged with excessive speeding in violation of Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 291C-105(a)(l) (2007).1 The charge stemmed from an incident on September 19, 2007, when Officer Benjamin Perez allegedly paced Eid’s car with his own vehicle and concluded Eid was traveling 65 miles-per-hour (mph) in a 25 mph zone. Prior to that incident, Officer Perez had “speed checks” conducted on his vehicle at Roy’s Kalihi Automotive Center & Towing (Roy’s Automotive), on April 5, 2007 and July 23, 2007. Those cheeks were intended to establish that the speedometer was accurate.

Prior to trial, Eid filed a motion in limine to exclude any speed cheek or speedometer reading evidence on the ground that the State would be unable to lay a sufficient foundation. The District Court of the First Circuit2 held an extensive pretrial hearing, which included testimony from the two mechanics who owned the speed check equipment and performed the tests pursuant to a contract with HPD. After five days of testimony, the district court denied Eid’s motion in limine. At trial, the district court admitted the speed check and speedometer reading evidence over the objection of defense counsel. The district court then found Eid guilty of excessive speeding.

On appeal, the Intermediate Court of Appeals concluded that the district court erred in admitting the speed check and speedometer reading evidence. State v. Eid, No. 29587, 2011 WL 2308055, at *1 (App. June 9, 2011) (SDO). The ICA determined that the State did not meet the foundational requirements set forth by State v. Fitzwater, 122 Hawai'i 354, 376-77, 227 P.3d 520, 542-43 (2010), because the State only established the manufacturer of the “master head” component of the speed check equipment and not the entire speed check testing assembly. SDO at *1. The ICA remanded the case for further proceedings “for consideration of whether the remaining evidence was sufficient to convict Eid of the lesser included offense of Noncomplianee with Speed Limit.” Id. The State of Hawai'i timely sought review in this court.

The State raises one question in its application for a writ of certiorari; “Whether the ICA gravely erred by concluding that there was insufficient foundation, as a matter of law, to admit the speed reading obtained from the speedometer in Officer Perez’s Ford Crown Victoria patrol car?”

[432]*432For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the State established a sufficient foundation to admit the speed check evidence, and consequently, the speedometer reading. Accordingly, we vacate the ICA’s judgment and remand to the ICA.

I. Background

The following factual background is taken from the record on appeal.

A. Pretrial Motions

On January 25, 2008, Eid filed a Motion to Compel Discovery or in the Alternative, Motion to Dismiss for Violation of Hawai'i Rules of Penal Procedure (HRPP) Rule 16(b) and (c)3 (motion to compel).4 Eid pointed to a number of items that the State allegedly failed to produce in response to a discovery request made by Eid on November 27, 2007, Specifically, Eid listed the following items in his motion to compel:

(a) HPD departmental policies and procedures for conducting speeding citations;
(b) The HPD manual for speeding citations;
(c) The make and model of the ear or motorcycle;
(d) The age of the car or motorcycle;
(e) The dates and description of repair work done on the car or motorcycle during the period of any applicable speedometer cheek;
(f) The age of each tire on the car or motorcycle and any information regarding maintenance of the tires;
(g) The speed check card, including:
i. The name of the auto shop used;
ii. The name of the person who conducted the speed check;
iii. A description of the procedures used to test the speedometer;
iv. Any other records regarding the speed check.
(h) The maintenance records for any vehicle alleged to have paced [Eid’s] speed for the period of any speed cheeks (in particular, the records relating to the tires and drive train of the vehicle) for one year prior to and one year after the date(s) of the alleged offense;
(i) Any certification from any government or nongovernmental agency, including any speedometer/odometer check, done on any vehicle alleged to pace [Eid’s] speed;
(j) Any speed reading for [Eid’s] vehicle;
(k) The maintenance records, for one year prior and one year after the date(s) of any alleged offense(s), for any device used to calibrate the speedometer/odometer of any motor vehicle used to pace [Eid’s] motor vehicle;
(l) The police maintenance records for any other speed measuring device used in this case, for the year prior and one year after the dates of any alleged offense(s), done on any vehicle alleged to have paced [Eid’s] speed;
(m) The manufacturer’s operators and maintenance manuals for any other-speed measuring device used in this ease, for the year prior and one year [433]*433after the dates of any alleged offense(s), done on any vehicle alleged to have paced [Eid’s] speed;
(n) The speed check device manufacturer’s established procedures for verifying and validating that the instrument was in proper working order;
(o) Written verification that said manufacturer’s established procedures were followed;
(p) Written verification that the speed check device or machine was in proper working order;
(q) Records of regular maintenance, servicing, upkeep, repair, modification and/or calibration of the speed cheek machine or device performed by the manufacturer (or the manufacturer’s duly trained and licensed representative, a year before and a year after the dates of any alleged offenses(s), as well as official maintenance, repair, modification, servicing, and/or calibration manuals for the device in question prepared by and/or relied upon by the manufacturer (or the manufacturer’s duly trained and licensed representative[) ].

Eid argued that “[a]s the accuracy of the pacing method is contingent upon correct operating procedures employed by HPD, all information on which the speed check is based and that pertain to provide [sic] information relating to the speed of all vehicles involved in the incident are essential to [Eid’s] ease.” Eid argued that the items listed in his motion to compel must be provided “in order to adequately prepare not only for trial, but also for anticipated pretrial motions.” Eid further argued that the requested materials would “tend to negate [his] guilt[.]”

The State argued in its opposition that the discovery requested in Eid’s motion to eom-pel was beyond the scope of HRPP Rule 16(a) and (d).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
272 P.3d 1197, 126 Haw. 430, 2012 WL 503231, 2012 Haw. LEXIS 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-eid-haw-2012.