State v. Onishi

499 P.2d 657, 53 Haw. 593, 1972 Haw. LEXIS 156
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 28, 1972
Docket5109
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 499 P.2d 657 (State v. Onishi) 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. Onishi, 499 P.2d 657, 53 Haw. 593, 1972 Haw. LEXIS 156 (haw 1972).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

MARUMOTO, J.

This is an appeal by Edward Onishi, the defendant in Criminal No. 41301 of the first circuit court, convicting him of unauthorized possession of a deadly weapon in violation of HRS § 727-25.

The sole question for decision on this appeal is whether the circuit court properly denied Onishi’s motion for suppression of evidence. The evidence sought to be suppressed was a pistol which Onishi asserts was seized in violation of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

The record shows the following facts regarding the seizure of the pistol:

Early in the morning of April 24, 1970, Detective Trepte of the Honolulu Police Department had a search warrarit to search Onishi’s apartment at 432 Pau Street in Waikiki, and officers Borges, Wong, and Cruz were assigned to maintain a surveillance of the premises.

[594]*594The officers were informed by Detective Trepte that the search warrant was issued upon an affidavit furnished by Jaylene Clarke, and listed sundry items of police paraphernalia, such as rifles, blue light, flashlight, finger print kit, and tools, which were taken from Officer Westerling’s automobile.

The surveillance was commenced at 1:30 o’clock, a.m., and was continued for three hours. During that period, the officers did not see any person enter or leave the apartment, and no person appeared to be present therein.

At approximately 4:35 o’clock, a.m., the officers responded to a radio transmission from Detective Trepte, and proceeded in their automobile up Pau Street to Ala Wai Boulevard, then on Ala Wai Boulevard for three blocks toward Koko Head to Namahana Street, and down Namahana Street toward Kuhio Avenue. As they approached Kuhio Avenue, they saw Onishi and a female companion walking toward them on Namahana Street. Onishi was carrying two plate lunches, and was walking in a normal manner.

Upon seeing Onishi, the officers pulled their automobile over to the koko head side of Namahana Street, got out of the vehicle, and walked toward him. At that time, the officers were in plain clothes, were armed, but did not have their guns drawn.

As he approached Onishi, Officer Borges identified himself to him as a policeman, stated that there was a search warrant for his apartment, requested him to accompany the officers to the apartment, and, without waiting for his response or other reaction to the request, began a pat down of his outer garments.

In doing so, Borges felt the outline of what appeared to be a pistol in Onishi’s left rear pocket. He then placed his hand in that pocket, found a loaded pistol, and arrested Onishi for being offensively armed. His testimony in this regard was as follows:

“I approached Mr. Onishi, I called out to him by name and identified myself as a police officer, displayed my police badge and told him that we had search war[595]*595rant for his residence, if he would please accompany us back to his apartment.
“By this time we were standing almost right next to him, slightly to his rear, and with my right hand I frisked his right pocket, coming over to his left pocket, and I felt an outline of what appeared to be a pistol in his left rear pocket.
“I immediately put my hand into the pocket, removed the pistol, and arrested Mr. Onishi for being offensively armed.”

The guidelines for determining the constitutional validity of stop and frisk by law enforcement officers are found in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968); Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40 (1968); and the recent decision in Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143 (1972).

The United States Supreme Court propounded the following guideline in Terry:

“[W]here a police officer observes unusual conduct which leads him reasonably to conclude in light of his experience that criminal activity may be afoot and that the persons with whom he is dealing may be armed and presently dangerous, where in the course of investigating this behavior he identifies himself as a policeman and makes reasonable inquiries, and where nothing in the initial stages of the encounter serves to dispel his reasonable fear for his own or others’ safety, he is entitled for the protection of himself and others in the area to conduct a carefully limited search of the outer clothing of such persons in an attempt to discover weapons which might be used to assault him.” (392 U.S. 30)

The pertinent statement of the court in Sibron is as follows:

“The police officer is not entitled to seize and search every person whom he sees on the street or of whom he makes inquiries. Before he places a hand on the person of a citizen in search of anything, he must have constitutionally adequate, reasonable grounds for doing so. In the case of the self-protective search for weapons, he [596]*596must be able to point to particular facts from which he reasonably inferred that the individual was armed and dangerous.” (392 U.S. 64)

Adams basically reaffirmed Terry and Sibron. It differs from prior decisions only in holding that a police officer may base his decision to stop and frisk on an informant’s tip which has sufficient indicia of reliability.

Both Terry and Sibron contain an implication that a stop and frisk must be based on the officer’s personal knowledge or observation of the conduct of the person with whom he is dealing. Adams holds that in “some situations — for example, when the victim of a street crime seeks immediate police aid and gives a description of his assailant, or when a credible informant warns of a specific impending crime — the subtleties of the hearsay rule should not thwart an appropriate police response.”

In connection with the established guidelines, it may be stated, as noted in State v. Goudy, 52 Haw. 497, 479 P. 2d 800 (1971), that the intrusion upon personal liberty must be based on something more substantial than inarticulate hunches, and that reasonableness would be judged by an objective standard, namely, whether the facts known by the officer would warrant a man of reasonable caution to believe that the action taken was appropriate.

The State asserts that State v. Goudy, supra, would support the stop and frisk here. The case is not- applicable.

Goudy involved a stop, but not a frisk. There, the police officers were following through on an informant’s report regarding transactions in contraband weapons and the defendant’s involvement therein. During the investigation, the officers witnessed suspicious conduct on the part of the defendant which tended to confirm the report. Consequently, they stopped the automobile in which the defendant was riding to inquire about the actions observed by them. In doing so, they approached the defendant with drawn pistols, and found a pistol and the butt end of a rifle in open view in the vehicle.

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State v. Onishi
499 P.2d 657 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
499 P.2d 657, 53 Haw. 593, 1972 Haw. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-onishi-haw-1972.