81 Hawai'i 5, State v. Crouser

• Decision Date: 15 February 1996
• Docket Number: No. 18580,18580
• Citation: 81 Hawaii 5,911 P.2d 725
• Parties: 81 Hawai'i 5 STATE of Hawai'i, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Delbert L. CROUSER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Page 725

911 P.2d 725

81 Hawai'i 5

STATE of Hawai'i, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Delbert L. CROUSER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 18580.

Supreme Court of Hawai'i.

Feb. 15, 1996.

Appeal from the District Family Court of the Third Circuit, County of Hawai'i (FC CR. No. 93-212K).

William F. Cooper, Deputy Public Defender, on the briefs, Honolulu, for defendant-appellant Delbert L. Crouser.

Gerald A. Garcia, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, on the briefs, Kealakekua, for plaintiff-appellee State of Hawai'i.

Before MOON, C.J., and KLEIN, LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA and RAMIL, JJ.

MOON, Chief Justice.

Following a bench trial, defendant-appellant Delbert L. Crouser was convicted of abuse of a family and household member, in violation of Hawai'i Revised StatutesHRS) § 709-906 (1993). ¹ On appeal, Crouser contends that: (1) the court's finding that his conduct was not justified under HRS § 703-309 (1993) ² is clearly erroneous; (2) there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction; and (3) the trial court committed plain error by failing to dismiss the case because HRS § 703-309 is unconstitutionally vague and/or overbroad. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In May 1993, the victim, a fourteen-year-old special education student at Kealakehe Intermediate School (Minor), moved from her father's home into the home of her mother and her mother's boyfriend, Crouser. By all accounts, Minor was prone to untruths. Her school counselor, the school health aide, and her foster mother characterized Minor as a pleasant, cooperative girl, who would sometimes make up stories to get attention, or lie to agree with adults and not make waves, but never to hurt others.

Minor was required by her mother and Crouser to bring home a daily progress report signed by her teachers. On May 19, 1993, Minor forgot to pick up the report from her counselor for her teachers to sign. She therefore filled the report out herself, changing some of the grades and her attendance record. Minor testified that she changed her perfect attendance record to reflect some absences because she believed that Crouser would not believe the reported perfect attendance and that Crouser would therefore discipline her for lying.

Crouser somehow learned that Minor had made changes to the report and went to Minor's room, where she was doing her homework. Minor testified that Crouser called her a liar and hit her across both sides of her face, knocking her to the floor. As she was trying to get up, Crouser grabbed her and threw her face down on the bed. According to Minor's testimony, Crouser put his knee on Minor's back, pulled her pants and underwear down to her knees, and started "whacking" her bare buttocks. When Crouser left the room, Minor pulled up her underwear and pants, but Crouser returned with a plastic bat and closed the door. He again pulled down Minor's pants and underwear and struck her with the bat on the buttocks, arm, thighs, and torso until the bat broke. Minor could not remember the number of times that she had been struck, but testified that the incident lasted approximately thirty minutes. Although Minor testified on direct examination that her mother was not home at the time, she admitted on cross-examination that her mother could have been home, but Minor had not seen her. Minor opined that, if her mother had been home at the time, her mother would have "do[ne] something." After being disciplined, Minor had a hard time sitting and felt dizzy for an hour or so. Minor testified that her bottom hurt for a couple of weeks after the incident. She also testified that, while in school on the day following the incident, she could not sit on the hard student chairs, that one of her teachers let her use the padded teacher's chair, and that, in her other classes, she just stood.

On the day following the incident, May 20, 1993, Minor was sent by a teacher to the office of the school health aide, Shirley Yamaguchi, because she complained of being unable to sit down. Yamaguchi observed that Minor waddled stiffly as though she was in extreme pain, was very emotional, and was unable to sit at the desk, where she customarily talked with students. Minor told Yamaguchi that she got a spanking from her "stepfather," Crouser, because of her grades. Yamaguchi called the school counselor, Diane McCary, into the office, and Yamaguchi and McCary observed that Minor's buttocks were bruised and colored a deep reddish-purple. They also observed bruising to Minor's arm, thigh, and torso, which Minor explained had occurred when she was moving around to try to block the blows from the bat. Yamaguchi testified that, of the approximately eighty to one hundred children who had come to her attention for discipline injuries, Minor's was the worst case she had seen. She further testified that, when Minor began describing what had happened to her, she cried uncontrollably, "a deep sobbing hurt kind of cry like a cry that's been held in for a while." At trial, McCary similarly testified.

Marilyn Hagoes, the unit supervisor of the crisis intake and investigation unit of Child Protective Services, Department of Human Services, was called to investigate and assess the incident. There is some conflict in the record concerning the date on which she interviewed Minor; however, it appears to have been on May 21, 1993. Hagoes testified that she observed bruising on Minor's legs, arms, and side, but did not ask to see the bruising on Minor's buttocks because it had already been photographed. Hagoes testified that, in her opinion, Minor's injuries were within the definition of "harm" set forth in HRS chapter 587, which is the statutory criterion governing her department's investigations and assessments.

Hagoes further testified that she interviewed Crouser on May 27, 1993. She showed Crouser the photographs of Minor and asked him how the bruising got there. According to Hagoes, Crouser told her that he "worked [Minor's] butt," explaining that he hit her about twenty-five times on the buttocks, mostly with his hand and some with a plastic bat. Crouser also advised Hagoes that he wanted to make it hard for her to sit down, but, when asked about the bruising to Minor's arm, torso, and leg, Crouser stated that those bruises were self-inflicted. Hagoes also testified that, in her ten years of experience, she had never seen such extensive bruising in a parental discipline case and that she considered the discipline excessive and not reasonably related to the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the welfare of a minor, including the punishment of misconduct.

Dr. Wesley Sugai testified that he had ordered blood tests on Minor, and the results of those tests showed that Minor did not have any abnormal characteristics that would make her susceptible to easy bruising. He testified that, in his opinion, "the amount of injury inflicted did cause a significant amount of pain, probably lots of psychological trauma from the beating, but, fortunately, no permanent disfigurement." Dr. Sugai further testified that the force used in this case created a risk of substantial bodily injury.

The prosecution also elicited testimony from Detective Bradley Ballesteros, Sr., who testified that he had interviewed Crouser on May 28, 1993. According to Ballesteros, Crouser admitted that the photos of Minor's injuries looked "pretty serious" but that he did not feel that he had gone beyond reasonable discipline, and the incident had been blown out of proportion.

Attorney Darl Gleed, guardian ad litem for Minor in family court, testified that Crouser had told him, prior to a court hearing, that Minor's punishment was twenty-five swats on one side of her buttocks and thirty-five on the other. According to Gleed, Crouser later clarified his statement by saying that he only spanked Minor twenty-five times on one side, leaving the other side untouched so that she could sit down, and meant to get around to the other thirty-five swats later.

Minor's foster mother, Bonnie Pond, testified at trial that Minor had been living in her home for seven or eight months, and, during that time, she had never had to physically discipline Minor, although she had spanked her own children. She testified that Minor is not a difficult child to deal with and does anything asked of her and more. She also testified that, although Minor lied at times, it was never for her benefit, but more of a fantasy.

The only witness called by the defense was Minor's mother (Mother). Mother testified that she had arrived home from work early on the afternoon of May 19, 1993 and was sitting about fifteen feet from Minor's room on an outside deck, with a clear view of the incident. She testified that Crouser did not hit Minor in the face and that Minor was not knocked to the floor. According to Mother, Minor got on the bed herself. She admitted that Crouser spanked Minor, but testified that he did not remove Minor's pants or put his knee into her back. She also testified that Crouser spanked only the right side of Minor's buttocks, but not excessively, and, if it had been excessive, that she "would have stopped it immediately." In Mother's view, "[Crouser] wasn't using any force on Minor that day." When shown the prosecution's exhibits depicting the extensive bruising of Minor's buttocks, Mother testified that she did not think that Crouser's spanking of Minor caused the bruises.

The court orally ruled on October 13, 1994. After reciting the requirements of HRS § 703-309, the court announced its findings:

Here, the Court finds that the State has proven each element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt and has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the force used was not reasonably related to the purpose of safeguarding the welfare of the minor and it was designed to cause or known to create a risk of causing substantial bodily injury or mental distress.

The court then reviewed the testimony and the exhibits and concluded as...