State v. Hanaoka

32 P.3d 1106, 97 Haw. 32, 2001 Haw. App. LEXIS 99
CourtHawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 3, 2001
DocketNo. 23377
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 32 P.3d 1106 (State v. Hanaoka) 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.

Bluebook
State v. Hanaoka, 32 P.3d 1106, 97 Haw. 32, 2001 Haw. App. LEXIS 99 (hawapp 2001).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

BURNS, C.J.

Defendant-Appellant Allen T. Hanaoka (Hanaoka) appeals the district court’s March [33]*3321, 2000 judgment convicting him of Driving-Under the Influence of Alcohol (DUI), Hawaii Revised Statutes § 291-4 (Supp.1999), and fining him. The March 21, 2000 judgment was stayed pending appeal. Specifically, Hanaoka challenges the district court’s March 7, 2000 Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order Denying Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Results of the Breath Test (March 7, 2000 Findings, Conclusions and Order).

The question is whether the rule of State v. Wilson, 92 Hawai'i 45, 987 P.2d 268 (1999), should be applied in favor of Hanaoka. Our answer is yes. Therefore, we reverse, in part, the March 7, 2000 order denying the motion to suppress, vacate the March 21, 2000 judgment, and remand.

BACKGROUND

On August 31, 1999, Hanaoka was arrested, given a breath test, and charged with DUI. On November 23,1999, Hanaoka filed a Motion to Suppress Results of the Breath Test. On December 21, 1999, Plaintiff-Appel-lee State of Hawai'i (State) filed its Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Evidence, stating, in relevant part, as follows:

[Hanaoka’s] motion presents the issue of whether the exclusionary rule announced in [State v. ]Wilson[, 92 Hawai'i 45, 987 P.2d 268 (1999),] applies retroactively to blood and breath alcohol tests administered to DUI arrestees whose arrests took place between January 30, 1997, the date Gray v. Administrative Director of the Court, State of Hawai'i, 84 Hawai'i 138, 931 P.2d 580 (1997) was decided, and October 28, 1999, the date Wilson was decided, where the arresting officer did not inform the arrestee without a prior alcohol enforcement record that the ADLRO could suspend his license for up to one year if he took the test and failed it.

In its March 7, 2000 Findings, Conclusions and Order, the district court stated, in relevant part, as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT
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3. While [Hanaoka] was under arrest, the arresting HPD officer read to [Hanao-ka] the statement printed on the HPD 396B that states:
[[Image here]]
That if you refuse to take any tests the consequences are as follows:
If your driving record shows no prior alcohol enforcement contacts during the five years preceding the date of your arrest, your driving privileges will be revoked for one year instead of the three month revocation that would apply if you chose to take a test and failed it.
[[Image here]]
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
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2. [Hanaoka] has not shown that he was in fact harmed or misled because of the information the HPD officer gave him regarding the sanctions that he faced under [HRS] Chapter 286.
3. Because [Hanaoka] has failed to show that he has suffered any harm as [a] result of an alleged incomplete disclosure by the police officer regarding the sanctions that he faced under [HRS] Chapter 286, [Hanaoka] does not have the requisite standing to bring forth the Motion.
The Court has considered retroac-tivity of State v. Wilson, 93 [92] Hawai'i 45 [987 P.2d 268] (1999), and will not give retroactive effect in this matter.

RELEVANT PRECEDENT

Rossell v. City and County of Honolulu, 59 Haw. 173, 579 P.2d 663 (1978), is a civil case in which Rossell sought damages from those who, after arresting him for DUI, allegedly gave him a blood test without his consent after they had rendered him unconscious. The giving of this blood test violated Hawai'i’s implied consent statute.1 Rossell had previously been convicted of DUI after the court denied Rossell’s motion to suppress [34]*34the results of the blood test. In the civil case, the jury implicitly found that Rossell had refused to submit to the blood test. The Hawai'i Supreme Court affirmed the jury’s verdict awarding damages to Rossell. In its opinion, the court stated, in relevant part, as follows:

The final contention raised by appellants is that in view of the refusal of the district court judge to suppress the results of the blood test in [Rossell’s] criminal trial on the charge of [DUI], the trial court in the instant case erred in submitting to the jury the question of whether [Rossell’s] blood had been properly taken. Appellants argue that the district court’s decision regarding the admissibility of the blood test results estopped [Rossell] to relitigate in a civil suit the issue of the legality of the taking of the blood sample. We find this contention to be unfounded.
Generally, where evidence has been obtained in violation of a statute, that evidence is not inadmissible per se in a criminal proceeding unless the statutory violation has constitutional dimensions. We are unable to conclude that the failure of appellants to abide by the pronouncements of HRS § 286-155 (1976 Repl.) “violates any constitutionally protected right.” As previously discussed, Schmerber[ v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966)] has established the Constitutional propriety of the forcible withdrawal of blood samples by the police under conditions such as those which were present in the instant case.2 Hence, the district judge was correct in refusing to suppress the results of the blood test in [Rossell’s] criminal prosecution.3
However, a decision in a criminal context regarding the Constitutional propriety of admission of evidence obtained in violation of a statute ordinarily involves issues which are separate and distinct from those involved in a determination of civil liability for failure to comply with the requirements of that statute. Therefore, while the results of a blood test may be admissible in a criminal prosecution for driving while intoxicated despite the arrestee’s unwillingness to submit to the test, such a determination does not confer legitimacy upon the undeniable violation of the implied consent statute. Police personnel thus proceed at their own risk in obtaining such evidence in violation of the strictures of the implied consent laws, for by proceeding in a manner contrary to provisions such as those contained in HRS § 286-155 (1976 Repl), police officers and other police personnel involved in sobriety testing subject themselves, as here, to the possibility of civil litigation brought by aggrieved arrestees.

Rossell, 59 Haw.

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Related

State v. Hanaoka
32 P.3d 663 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 P.3d 1106, 97 Haw. 32, 2001 Haw. App. LEXIS 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hanaoka-hawapp-2001.