State v. Holt

173 P.3d 550, 116 Haw. 403, 2007 Haw. App. LEXIS 656
CourtHawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 21, 2007
Docket27924
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 173 P.3d 550 (State v. Holt) 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. Holt, 173 P.3d 550, 116 Haw. 403, 2007 Haw. App. LEXIS 656 (hawapp 2007).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

WATANABE, J.

Defendant-Appellant Duke W. Holt (Holt or Mr. Holt) appeals from the Judgment entered by the Circuit Court of the First Circuit 1 (the circuit court) on April 27, 2006, convicting and sentencing him for Harassment by Stalking, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 711-1106.5(1) (Supp. 2006). 2 We vacate the sentence portion of the Judgment and remand for resentencing.

BACKGROUND

On January 5, 2006, Plaintiff-Appellee State of Hawai'i (the State) filed a complaint that charged Holt as follows:

On or about the 6th day of December, 2005, through and including the 7th day of December, 2005, in the City and County of Honolulu, State of Hawaii, [Holt], with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another person, to wit, [Complaining Witness (CW) ], or in reckless disregard of the risk thereof, did engage in a course of conduct involving pursuit, surveillance, or noncon-sensual contact upon [CW] on more than one occasion without legitimate purpose, thereby committing the offense of Harassment by Stalking, in violation of Section 711-1106.5(1) of the [HRS],

*406 Trial on the ease began on April 18, 2006, and four witnesses testified for the State.

The first witness, CW, who was twelve years old at the time, testified that on December 6, 2005, she left her house at around 6:20 a.m. and was walking alone to Kawana-nakoa Middle School, carrying her binder and wearing a backpack. CW recalled that when she crossed Liliha Street to get to Kuakini Street, she walked in front of a four-door Mercedes. She testified that she felt “[k]ind of weird, ‘cause like [the driver] kept looking at [her].... [He] wouldn’t stop looking at [her].” CW identified the driver as Holt.

After crossing the intersection, CW turned left onto Kuakini Street. Later, when she was “by Kuakini Hospital, [she] looked on the side at Kuakini Hospital, and [saw Holt] in the—the parking lot[.]” CW testified that Holt was still looking at her and kept “saying stuff, oh, what’s up, hey, baby, eh, where you going, what you doing, and stuff like that.”

According to CW, Holt’s words made her feel “weird” because he was “a way older person than [her]” whom she “didn’t even know.” She kept walking on Kuakini Street and didn’t look at him. She reported the incident to her homeroom teacher that day, December 6, 2005.

The next day, December 7, 2005, she left her home for school at around the same time but took a different route because she “didn’t want to see [Holt]” and “thought [she] was going to bump into [Holt] again so [she] just took another way.” As she walked along Sereno Street, a shortcut to her school, she heard a car behind her but did not turn around. CW testified that she kept on walking and then “someone said what’s up? Where’s McDonald’s at?” She turned around and saw “it was the same guy in the Mercedes.” The window of the Mercedes was down, and she was on the passenger’s side of the car. CW thought he was a lost tourist, and after he came closer, she directed him to the nearest McDonald’s by Food-land in Liliha.

After that, CW said, Holt “started asking [her] like, oh, do you have a phone, can I have your number, oh, what’s your name, my name’s Eric, and stuff like that.” CW did not give him her phone number. According to CW, when Holt asked for her name, she replied by saying:

[O]h, I’m in middle school. And he said, oh, it’s okay. And then I said, oh, I have a boyfriend. So I thought he was going to go away after that. And then he said it’s okay, I just want to be your friend. I can just take you out, go shopping or something.

CW testified that Holt said, “[P]lease, I’m a nice guy. And then he said, oh, I never say please. Come on.” Holt then stated that he wanted to take CW shopping and offered her a ride to school. CW did not agree to go with Holt and started to walk away, but Holt “grabbed [her] hand” through the window on the passenger’s side. CW testified that she “was just shocked and seared so [she] just stayed still” as Holt told her, “[J]ust tell me a day and time, and then I’ll let you go, just meet up with me somewhere.” CW stated:

Like he was—he was saying, oh, how about Saturday at 12:00? And I said 12:00 midnight? And then he said why, is that too late? And I said I don’t know. And he said what about 12:00 in the afternoon? I just said okay so I can go. And then he said no, that’s too early. How about 6:00 in the evening? And I said, oh, okay. I just said yes like fast so I can just go.

CW testified that she lied about having a boyfriend because she “thought he would leave [her] alone.” The conversation lasted five to ten minutes. After CW agreed to meet Holt on Saturday at 6:00 p.m., Holt released her and then “went into someone’s driveway and turned around[.]” As he did this, he reminded her about their arrangement and then asked her where they should meet. CW recalled that she reported the incident to her homeroom teacher, who said that they needed to call the police. The police arrived that morning.

CW wrote two statements for the police. The first was a one-page statement written on December 7, 2005 (the first statement). The second was a four-and-a-half-page statement written on December 10, 2005 after Holt had been arrested (the second statement). CW explained that the first state *407 ment was considerably shorter than the second statement because she was being rushed by her teacher and police officers to finish it “because school was going to start soon.”

On cross-examination, Holt confronted CW about various inconsistencies between her trial testimony and her prior written statements. CW admitted that in her first statement, she wrote that the first incident with Holt took place on Lanakila Avenue, rather than Liliha Street, but explained that she was confused by the interviewing officer. CW also explained that in her first statement, she never described being grabbed by Holt because her teacher “kept rushing [her]. The bell was going to ring soon, and [she] still had to finish [her] homework[.]” CW also acknowledged that in her first statement, she wrote that she “didn’t answer” when she was asked by Holt “what [her] phone number was, how old [she] was, [her] name, where [she] lived, [and her] school[.]”

Holt then sought to admit into evidence, pursuant to Hawaii Rules of Evidence (HRE) Rule 613 (1993), CW’s first statement in order to impeach her regarding inconsistencies in her testimony at trial. The State objected on grounds that the statement was impermissible hearsay, and the circuit court sustained the objection, ruling that CW’s testimony was “not inconsistent with her written statement.” Holt then argued for the admission of the first statement on grounds that it would be unfair and incomplete for only one document to be admitted, but the circuit court again denied the admission of the first statement. CW later testified that when she wrote her first statement, the police officer “was kind of confusing” her. She also admitted that she did not know the names of the streets in her neighborhood, like Lanakila Avenue and Liliha Street.

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Bluebook (online)
173 P.3d 550, 116 Haw. 403, 2007 Haw. App. LEXIS 656, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-holt-hawapp-2007.