State v. Kelsey

566 P.2d 1370, 58 Haw. 234, 1977 Haw. LEXIS 103
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 25, 1977
DocketNO. 6015
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 566 P.2d 1370 (State v. Kelsey) 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. Kelsey, 566 P.2d 1370, 58 Haw. 234, 1977 Haw. LEXIS 103 (haw 1977).

Opinions

[235]*235OPINION OF THE COURT BY

OGATA, J.

Defendant-appellant, Brant Norman Kelsey (hereinafter appellant), was found guilty by a jury of the offense of promoting a dangerous drug in the second degree in violation of Section 1242(1) (c) of the Hawaii Penal Code, as enacted by Act 9, Session Laws of Hawaii 1972, hereinafter referred to as the Code. He was thereafter sentenced by the trial court to imprisonment in the Hawaii State Prison for ten years. We affirm the judgment and sentence.

Appellant contends that the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal made at the close of the presentation of all the evidence in the case. In this connection, appellant based his motion for acquittal on three separate grounds; 1) that the state had failed to present any evidence to show appellant was not licensed to deal in drugs; 2) that appellant was entrapped as a matter of law; and 3) that appellant was a procuring agent for the undercover police officer and was therefore immune from prosecution. In refer[236]*236ence to appellant’s grounds 2 and 3, he further contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury over his objection that the burden of proving entrapment was by preponderance of the evidence and that burden was on appellant; and that it also erred when it refused to give over appellant’s objection his requested jury instruction No. 3, relating to his defense that he was a procuring agent.

We have carefully reviewed the record in the instant case, and we reject the appellant’s contention that no evidence was presented to show that appellant was not authorized by law to distribute cocaine. Among other things, the transcript shows that in his own direct testimony, appellant testified that he is not a cocaine dealer, and further on cross examination he admitted that he is not a distributor of drugs. In State v. Tamanaha, 46 Haw. 245, 377 P.2d 688 (1962), we are told that the evidence adduced in the trial court must be considered in its strongest light for the state by an appellate court in passing on its legal sufficiency to support a conviction. Reviewing the transcript in that light, we hold that it contains substantial evidence, albeit circumstantial, from which justifiable inferences of fact may be drawn on the factual issue of unlawfulness, which would render this a question for the consideration of the jury. State v. Laurie, 56 Haw. 664, 548 P.2d 271 (1976); State v. Iaukea, 56 Haw. 343, 537 P.2d 724 (1976); State v. Cannon, 56 Haw. 161, 532 P.2d 391 (1975); State v. Kahalewai, 55 Haw. 127, 516 P.2d 336 (1973); State v. Rocker, 52 Haw. 336, 475 P.2d 684 (1970). Moreover, we agree with the trial court’s decision in denying appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal in that a reasonable mind might fairly conclude guilt beyond a reasonable doubt based upon the totality of such evidence.

The appellant admits in his opening brief that the view of the U.S. Supreme Court is that entrapment is a jury question, unless the evidence is undisputed and so clear that it presents a legal question as a matter of law. Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369 (1958). We agree with this view of entrapment. However, based on this record, we do not have a situation where the evidence is undisputed. Rather the evidence is in sharp conflict, the prosecution’s case not disclosing any evi[237]*237dence of entrapment, while the appellant’s showing that defense. This is a clear case where the question of entrapment must be determined by a jury, who, in arriving at its verdict, must determine the credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence. We, therefore, conclude that the motion for judgment of acquittal, based on entrapment as a matter of law, was properly denied, and the trial court properly allowed this question to go to the jury. Masciale v. United States, 356 U.S. 386 (1958); People v. Bucher, 182 Colo. 211, 511 P.2d 895 (1973).

Appellant further contends that the trial court committed prejudicial error when it instructed the jury over appellant’s objection that the burden of proof in the entrapment issue was on the appellant and that appellant must meet this burden by a preponderance of the evidence.1

Appellant argues in this regard that after some credible evidence of entrapment is presented, the burden should be on the state to show that appellant was not entrapped, beyond a reasonable doubt. We agree with appellant that this view was accepted as the law in this jurisdiction until 1972. Territory v. [238]*238Achuck, 31 Haw. 474 (1930). The provisions of the Code went into effect on January 1,1973, and the legislative mandate set forth in Sections 115 and 237 of the Code with respect to the defense of entrapment is applicable to the facts involved herein. United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423 (1973).2 Section 237 of the Code states that it is an affirmative defense when the defendant asserts that he engaged in the prohibited conduct or caused the prohibited result because he was induced or encouraged to do so by a law enforcement officer, who, for the purpose of obtaining evidence of the commission of an offense, either knowingly made false representations designed to induce the belief that such conduct or result was not prohibited, or employed methods of persuasion or inducement which created a substantial risk that the offense would be committed by persons other than those who are ready to commit it. Section 115(2) (b) of the Code states: “If the defense is an affirmative defense, the defendant is entitled to an acquittal if the trier of fact finds that the evidence, when considered in light of any contrary prosecution evidence, proves by a preponderance of the evidence the specified fact or facts which negative penal liability.” The burden of proving entrapment is now on the defendant, and he must prove this issue by a preponderance of the evidence. The instruction given to the jury was pursuant to these sections of the Code.

Appellant further argues that these sections, which require appellant to show entrapment by preponderance of the evidence, have shifted the burden of proof of an essential element of the crime from the state to appellant, and, to this extent, these statutes are unconstitutional because they contravene the requirements of due process. It is appellant’s position that when entrapment is raised as a defense, there is injected into the case an additional material element of non-entrapment, which must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt by the state. However, appellant reasons, because the [239]*239Code requires the appellant to prove entrapment by a preponderance of the evidence, the state is relieved from proving non-entrapment by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

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State v. Kelsey
566 P.2d 1370 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
566 P.2d 1370, 58 Haw. 234, 1977 Haw. LEXIS 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kelsey-haw-1977.