State v. Keck

142 P.3d 1286, 111 Haw. 457, 2006 Haw. App. LEXIS 454
CourtHawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 24, 2006
DocketNos. 27311, 27312
StatusPublished

This text of 142 P.3d 1286 (State v. Keck) 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. Keck, 142 P.3d 1286, 111 Haw. 457, 2006 Haw. App. LEXIS 454 (hawapp 2006).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

LIM, J.

In these consolidated appeals (Nos. 27311 & 27312), Paul Arthur Keck (Defendant) appeals the two May 13, 2005 amended judgments that the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court)1 entered in Cr. No. 04-1-1525 (1525) and Cr. No. 04-1-0871(871), respectively.

The 871 judgment convicted Defendant on his guilty pleas, straight up, to six counts of sexual assault and attempted sexual assault in the third degree and one count of sexual assault in the fourth degree upon a nine-year-old girl. The 1525 judgment convicted Defendant on his guilty pleas, straight up, to two counts of sexual assault in the third degree upon an eight-year-old girl, committed while he was out on bail in 871. In 871, Defendant was sentenced to one year in jail and six extended ten-year indeterminate terms of imprisonment, concurrent, but consecutive to the two extended ten-year indeterminate terms of imprisonment imposed in 1525.

We affirm. We hold at the threshold that Defendant did not waive appeal of sentencing issues when he pled guilty to the underlying charges. Along the way, we also hold that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion [459]*459when it ordered that Defendant remain shackled at his sentencing hearing.

I.

On appeal, Defendant raises issues relating only to his sentencing. At the outset, the State claims that Defendant waived appeal of those issues when he pled guilty to the underlying charges. “Generally, a guilty plea made voluntarily and intelligently precludes a defendant from later asserting any nonjurisdictional claims, including constitutional challenges to the pretrial proceedings.” State v. Morin, 71 Haw. 159, 162, 785 P.2d 1316, 1318 (1990) (citing Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 25 L.Ed.2d 747 (1970); Tollett v. Henderson, 411 U.S. 258, 93 S.Ct. 1602, 36 L.Ed.2d 235 (1973); 1 C. Wright, Federal Practice & Procedure § 175 (1982)).2

However, “[a] waiver is the knowing, intelligent, and voluntary relinquishment of a known right.” State v. Mitchell, 94 Hawai'i 388, 394, 15 P.3d 314, 320 (App.2000) (citation and block quote format omitted) (regarding waiver of the constitutional right to a jury trial in a criminal case). And though “[t]he right of appeal in a criminal case is purely statutory[,]” State v. Dannenberg, 74 Haw. 75, 78, 837 P.2d 776, 778 (1992), we believe it remains both intuitive and axiomatic that one cannot knowingly waive error which has yet to occur. We conclude that the State’s threshold demurrer to Defendant’s appeal lacks merit.

II.

A.

Defendant first complains that his constitutional rights to due process and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment were derogated when he was shackled during his sentencing hearing, despite his objections. We disagree.

Where shackling occurs before a jury, appellate review is strict and exacting:

But even a partial physical restraint of the accused while he sits before judge and jury is not to be lightly ordered, for shackling unmistakably indicates “the need to separate the defendant from the community at large[.]” Holbrook v. Flynn, 475 U.S. [560,] 569[, 106 S.Ct. 1340, 89 L.Ed.2d 525 (1986) ]. And it “is the sort of inherently prejudicial practice that ... should be permitted only where justified by an essential state interest specific to [the] trial.” Id. at 568-69[, 106 S.Ct. 1340]. Where the accused is shackled at trial, the reviewing court must subject what happened to “close judicial scrutiny” to determine whether an “essential state interest” was furthered by the trial judge’s order to have him shackled or whether less restrictive, less prejudicial means could have been employed.

State v. Castro, 69 Haw. 633, 650-51, 756 P.2d 1033, 1045 (1988) (ellipsis and some brackets in the original; some citations omitted).

Where the accused is shackled before a sentencing judge, however, scrutiny need not be so strict, given the general presumption that a judge is not easily inappropriately influenced or inclined. See, e.g., State v. Montgomery, 103 Hawai'i 373, 383, 82 P.3d 818, 828 (App.2003):

We presume the court observed the distinction, because in a bench trial,
the normal rule is that if there is sufficient competent evidence to support the judgment or finding below, there is a presumption that any incompetent evidence was disregarded and the issue determined from a consideration of competent evidence only.
State v. Gutierrez, 1 Haw.App. 268, 270, 618 P.2d 315, 317 (1980) (citations omitted). See also State v. Vliet, 91 Hawai'i 288, 298, 983 P.2d 189, 199 (1999). More to the point, we presume the court considered the evidence for rehabilitation purposes and for rehabilitation purposes only. Cf. People v. Deenadayalu, 331 Ill.App.3d 442, 265 Ill.Dec. 285, 772 N.E.2d 323, 329 (2002) [460]*460(“when other-crimes evidence is introduced for a limited purpose, it is presumed that the trial judge considered it only for that purpose” (citation omitted)); Corley v. State, 987 S.W.2d 615, 621 (Tex.Ct.App.1999) (in a bench trial, “the danger that the trier of fact will consider extraneous offense evidence for anything other than the limited purpose for which it is admitted is reduced, and the likelihood that the extraneous evidence will unfairly prejudice the defendant is diminished”).

Thus, it cannot be said that shackling before a sentencing judge is such an “inherently prejudicial practiee[,]” Castro, 69 Haw. at 650, 756 P.2d at 1045 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted), that it must be reviewed only with the most punctilious of cautions and irrespective of any prejudice to the defendant. Rather,

Where the challenged practice is not one deemed inherently prejudicial by the Supreme Court, the reviewing court must determine whether [the challenged practice] posed “an unacceptable threat to defendant’s right to a fair trial; if the challenged practice is not found inherently prejudicial and if the defendant fails to show actual prejudice, the inquiry is over.” Holbrook v. Flynn, 475 U.S. at 572[, 106 S.Ct. 1340],

Castro, 69 Haw. at 651 n. 10, 756 P.2d at 1045 n. 10.

Here, accordingly, the circuit court did not clearly abuse its discretion in ordering that Defendant remain shackled during his sentencing hearing, see Castro, 69 Haw.

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Related

Brady v. United States
397 U.S. 742 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Tollett v. Henderson
411 U.S. 258 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Holbrook v. Flynn
475 U.S. 560 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Apprendi v. New Jersey
530 U.S. 466 (Supreme Court, 2000)
State v. Vliet
983 P.2d 189 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1999)
State v. Morin
785 P.2d 1316 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1990)
State v. Castro
756 P.2d 1033 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1988)
State v. Pulse
925 P.2d 797 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1996)
State v. Dannenberg
837 P.2d 776 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1992)
State v. Gutierrez
618 P.2d 315 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 1980)
Corley v. State
987 S.W.2d 615 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
People v. Deenadayalu
772 N.E.2d 323 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2002)
State v. Montgomery
82 P.3d 818 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 2003)
State v. Mitchell
15 P.3d 314 (Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals, 2000)
State v. White
129 P.3d 1107 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2006)
State v. Kahapea
141 P.3d 440 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
142 P.3d 1286, 111 Haw. 457, 2006 Haw. App. LEXIS 454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-keck-hawapp-2006.