State v. Tanaka

994 P.2d 607, 92 Haw. 675
CourtHawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 3, 2000
Docket21812
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 994 P.2d 607 (State v. Tanaka) 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. Tanaka, 994 P.2d 607, 92 Haw. 675 (hawapp 2000).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

LIM, J.

Defendan1>-Appellant Raymond T.H. Tana-ka appeals the judgment of the Circuit Court of the First Circuit convicting him of one count of promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree, one count of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia and two counts of promoting a detrimental drug in the third degree; and sentencing him to concurrent indeterminate terms of imprisonment of five years with a mandatory minimum term of thirty days, five years, thirty days and thirty days, respectively.

Defendant-Appellant Jacqueline L. Tana-ka appeals the judgment of the Circuit Court' of the First Circuit convicting her of one count of promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree, one count of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia and one count of promoting a detrimental drug in the third degree; and sentencing her to concurrent indeterminate terms of imprisonment of five years with a mandatory minimum term of thirty days, five years and thirty days, respectively.

We vacate both judgments and remand for a new trial.

I. The Incriminating Items.

On October 18, 1996, the Honolulu Police Department executed a search warrant at the Waimanalo residence of Defendants-Appellants Raymond and Jacqueline Tanaka. The warrant authorized a search of the premises and the person and personal effects of Mr. Tanaka for narcotics and associated items.

Evidence at trial indicated that numerous items were found and recovered during the search, in various places in the two-bedroom, one-bathroom, single-family residence.

These included a substantial number of items which could be considered drug paraphernalia, including cigarette rolling papers, several glass pipes, a variety of small containers, a selection of weighing scales, and an assortment of butane lighters and propane torch lighters.

Two ziploc packets recovered from a silver canister contained a substance identified after analysis as methamphetamine. Two of the glass pipes contained residue found to be methamphetamine.

Residue in a metal pipe was analyzed and found to be marijuana. Two ziploc bags found in a Nuprin bottle each contained a partial cigarette. Analysis revealed that both “roaches” contained marijuana. Vegetable matter in a ziploc bag turned out to be marijuana. Another ziploc bag recovered from Mr. Tanaka’s pocket also contained vegetable matter later identified as marijuana.

II. The Charges.

As a result of the extensive inventory of inebriants and paraphernalia found during the search, the Tanakas were indicted by the grand jury on May 27,1997.

Count I of the indictment charged each Tanaka with promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree 1 for knowingly possessing the dangerous drug methamphetamine.

*677 Count II charged each Tanaka with the use of or possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia. 2

Count III charged each Tanaka with promoting a detrimental drug in the third degree 3 for knowingly possessing the detrimental drug marijuana.

Count IV charged only Mr. Tanaka with promoting a detrimental drug in the third degree for knowingly possessing marijuana.

On March 29, 1998, a jury found Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka guilty of all charges against them. On August 13, 1998, the Tanakas appealed their respective convictions and sentences.

III. The Arceo Problem.

The plethora of incriminating items found and recovered during the search, when compared with the charges in the indictment, posed the possibility that each defendant in each count of the indictment, with the color-able exception of Count IV, could be convicted of the offense charged on the basis of his or her possession of each one of several different incriminating items.

This circumstance presented the further possibility that a jury could purport to find a defendant guilty without unanimity as to the underlying incriminating item.

Under Count III, for example, six jurors could find that Mr. Tanaka knowingly possessed the metal pipe with the marijuana residue, while the remaining six jurors could find that Mr. Tanaka knowingly possessed the Nuprin bottle containing the partial marijuana cigarettes. Since all twelve jurors would thus find that Mr. Tanaka knowingly possessed marijuana, a detrimental drug, a unanimous verdict of guilty conceivably could be returned without jury unanimity as to the specific item possessed.

This is the scenario interdicted by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in State v. Arceo. 4

In Arceo, the trial revealed evidence of multiple acts of both sexual penetration and sexual contact within the context of only two counts, one charging a single act of sexual penetration and the other charging a single act of sexual contact. 5 The supreme court acknowledged the possibility there of verdicts not grounded in jury unanimity as to the specific act committed, and held that such verdicts, without jury unanimity as to each material element of the offense, 6 would violate the defendant’s right to a fair trial under article I, section 14 of the Hawai'i Constitution and his right to due process under article I, section 5 of the Hawai'i Constitution. 7 Its prophylactic holding required that, under such circumstances implicating the right to a unanimous jury verdict, (1) the prosecution must elect the specific act upon which it will rely to establish the conduct element of the offense, or (2) the trial court must give the jury a specific unanimity instruction.

In this case, the trial court recognized the problem and gave a specific unanimity instruction for each defendant under each count of the indictment, seven in all. They are attached as appendices one through seven to this opinion.

IV. The Trial Court Improperly Commented Upon the Evidence.

Though the trial court’s recognition of the problem was laudable, its solution may have been less so.

*678 First, each unanimity instruction specified where each potentially incriminating item was found in the house.

For example, in appendix one, relating to Mr. Tanaka and Count I, item # 1 was described as “[mjethamphetamine found in the glass pipe from jacket pocket, Bedroom # 1 closet ” (emphasis added).

It was important, under Arceo, to ensure jury unanimity as to the underlying item or items for each guilty verdict. Given the number of similar items found and recovered from various places in the premises, it must have been difficult to avoid reference to location when describing each item.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
994 P.2d 607, 92 Haw. 675, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tanaka-hawapp-2000.