State v. Carroll

• Decision Date: 31 October 2018
• Docket Number: NO. CAAP-16-0000593,CAAP-16-0000593
• Citation: 429 P.3d 1229 (Table)
• Parties: STATE of Hawai‘i, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. William Roy CARROLL, III, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: Hawaii Court of Appeals

429 P.3d 1229 (Table)

STATE of Hawai‘i, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.William Roy CARROLL, III, Defendant-Appellant

NO. CAAP-16-0000593

Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawai‘i.

October 31, 2018

On the briefs:

Keith S. Shigetomi, for Defendant-Appellant.

Ha‘aheo M. Kaho‘ohalahala, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

(By: Ginoza, Chief Judge, Leonard and Reifurth, JJ.)

1230 SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER

Defendant-Appellant William Roy Carroll III (Carroll ) appeals from the "Judgment of Conviction and Sentence" (Judgment ) filed on July 27, 2016, in the Circuit Court of the Third Circuit (Circuit Court ).¹ Carroll was convicted of one count of Theft in the Second Degree in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS ) § 708-830(1) (2014)² and HRS § 708-831(1)(b) (2014),³ and one count of Theft in the Third Degree in violation of HRS § 708-830(1) and § 708-832(1)(a) (2014).^{4 ,5}

On appeal, Carroll contends that the Circuit Court erred in: (1) denying his challenges to two prospective jurors for cause because the voir dire examination revealed that each had preconceived biases that threatened their ability to serve as impartial jurors; (2) denying Carroll's Motion for Judgment of Acquittal because the testimony elicited at trial on the valuation of items claimed to be stolen and damaged was insufficient to support a conviction in each charge; and (3) sentencing Carroll to the indeterminate term of incarceration of five years, because such sentence improperly penalized Carroll for exercising his right to a trial.

Upon careful review of the record and briefs submitted by the parties and having given due consideration to the arguments advanced and the issues raised, as well as the relevant statutory and case law, we resolve Carroll's points of error as follows, and affirm.

Plaintiff-Appellee State of Hawai‘i (State ) charged Carroll with one count of Theft in the Second Degree, one count of Theft in the Third Degree and one count of Criminal Property Damage in the Second Degree in violation of HRS § 708-821(1)(b) (2014).⁶ The charges against Carroll were in connection with an incident in Hilo, Hawai‘i, on September 6, 2015, in which a bronze statue of King Kamehameha I was damaged, and a bronze spear connected to the statue was removed and later found with a four-foot pipe and forty-foot chain.

The case proceeded to jury selection and trial before the Circuit Court. During jury selection, Carroll challenged for cause the seating of Prospective Juror 35 (Juror 35 ) and Prospective Juror 48 (Juror 48 ). Carroll alleged that the voir dire examination had revealed preconceived biases of Juror 35 and Juror 48 that threatened their ability to sit as impartial jurors in the instant case.

Carroll's challenges were largely based on both jurors' exposure to pre-trial media coverage that had discussed the incident involving the statue, and their somewhat ambiguous responses regarding their ability to be impartial should they be selected as jurors. Carroll also questioned Juror 48's ability to be impartial based on her disclosure of prior discussions about the incident with her children awhile back, who had expressed their displeasure about the incident.⁷ The Circuit Court allowed for separate questioning of prospective Jurors 35 and 48, respectively, to investigate whether they could be fair and impartial. Ultimately, the Circuit Court was satisfied with both jurors' overall responses, noting that each had expressed that they were fairly certain that they could disregard any prior information regarding the case, or any preliminary decisions concerning Carroll's alleged involvement. As such, Carroll's challenges to Juror 35 and Juror 48 for cause were denied. At the conclusion of jury selection, Carroll elected to use all three of his allotted peremptory challenges, two of which were used to excuse Juror 35 and Juror 48.⁸

During trial, the State presented testimony by Robert "Bobby" Yamada (Yamada ) about the Kamehameha I statue. Yamada, who is a construction manager by trade and licensed general contractor, testified that he was part of the Kamehameha Statue Committee that installed the statue in its current place. As general contractor for the project, Yamada was familiar with the bronze statue and the attached bronze spear, which were the subject property in Counts 1 and 2.⁹ After examination by both parties, the Circuit Court qualified Yamada to render an opinion as an estimator and general contractor over Carroll's objection. Yamada proceeded to offer testimony regarding his opinion of the replacement cost of the piece of the statue that was stolen, and the approximate cost to repair the portions of the statue damaged in the alleged incident.

The State also offered the testimony of Patrick Ehrenlechner (Ehrenlechner ) to testify about the property involved in Count 3¹⁰ of the instant case. Ehrenlechner testified that as Manager of Bayfront Motors, he was familiar with the pipe and chain that were allegedly taken from Bayfront Motors' property, and estimated its value at approximately $135.00. Ehrenlechner based his estimate on the original price he paid to purchase the pipe and chain.

At the conclusion of the State's case in chief, Carroll made a motion for judgment of acquittal, asserting that the State had failed to prove the necessary elements of each charge, specifically the requisite costs or value of the items allegedly damaged and stolen. The Circuit Court denied Carroll's motion, finding that the testimony elicited from the State regarding the valuation of the property was sufficient for the jury to consider in determining whether the elements of the charges were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The jury subsequently found Carroll guilty of all charges.¹¹ On July 26, 2016, the Circuit Court sentenced Carroll to an indeterminate term of incarceration of five years.

(1) Challenges to Jurors. We review the Circuit Court's decision to pass a juror for cause under the abuse of discretion standard. State v. Kauhi, 86 Hawai‘i 195, 197, 948 P.2d 1036, 1038 (1997). As to Carroll's first point of error, we conclude that the Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion in denying Carroll's motion to excuse Juror 35 and Juror 48 for cause.

Generally, the trial court's exercise of its discretion to excuse or retain a prospective juror is governed by HRS § 612-7 (2016),¹² which includes excusing a prospective juror for "good cause." HRS § 612-7. Here, Carroll contends that good cause existed to excuse Juror 35 and Juror 48 because both had been exposed to adverse pre-trial media coverage and outside information that impaired their ability to serve as impartial jurors in this case.

The constitutional guarantee of a right to a trial by an impartial jury requires the jury to be "substantially free from the biasing effects of inflammatory pre-trial publicity". State v. Keohokaou, 127 Hawai‘i 91, 101-102, 276 P.3d 660, 670-671 (2012) (citations omitted). "Once the accused claims that his or her right to a fair trial has been jeopardized by external influences, such as publicity, on the jury, the court must determine whether the influences rise to the level of being substantially prejudicial." Id. at 102, 276 P.3d at 671. If it does not rise to such level, the trial court is under no duty to interrogate the jury. Id."Where, however, the court determines that outside influences are of a nature which could substantially prejudice the defendant's right to a fair trial, a rebuttable presumption of prejudice arises." Id. (citations omitted). The trial judge would then be "duty-bound to investigate the totality of circumstances to determine the impact of the outside influence on the jury." Id.

Here, the media coverage that both jurors referred to was nearly a year old, and consisted of mostly non-prejudicial information (i.e. the location the bronze spear was recovered, the condition of the spear, etc.), and mention that a homeless man may have been responsible for the incident. Such media coverage is primarily factual, as opposed to being a "barrage of inflammatory publicity immediately prior to trial amounting to a huge ... wave of public passion". See id. at 103, 276 P.3d at 672. Juror 48’s disclosure of her prior conversations of the case with her children is of similar character. Juror 48 had indicated that her children were very upset that the statue had been damaged, however as articulated by the Circuit Court, such sentiment was not different from how most members of the public may have felt about the incident. Accordingly, none of the outside influences on Jurors 35 and 48 rose to the level of presumed prejudice.

The record also does not show that Jurors 35 and 48 had exhibited "actual partiality or hostility that could not be laid aside" such that actual prejudice existed. See id. at 104, 276 P.3d at 673. Although both jurors had offered ambiguous, and at times contradictory, responses regarding their ability to act impartially, both eventually, and to the Circuit Court's satisfaction, expressed a degree of certainty that they were able to perform as competent jurors. Juror 48 had indicated to the Circuit Court that she was ninety percent certain that she could set aside any identified bias that she may have if she were selected. Juror 35 similarly expressed that she was eighty percent certain that she could do the same. Also, in the State's examination of Juror 48, she had expressly indicated that she would find the defendant innocent if she were asked to decide the case prior to any presentation of evidence. In response to the same inquiry by defense counsel, Juror 35 also explicitly stated that she would find Carroll innocent in such circumstance.

Accordingly, we conclude that the Circuit Court did not abuse its discretion in denying Carroll's challenges to Juror 35 and Juror 48 for cause. Additionally, because we conclude that there was no abuse of discretion, we need not reach the inquiry of whether Carroll's right to exercise a...