State v. Maldonado, 25606.
| Decision Date | 06 June 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 25606.,25606. |
| Citation | 121 P.3d 911 |
| Parties | STATE of Hawai`i, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jobert Lyle MALDONADO, Defendant-Appellant, and Kevin Wayne Anthony and Wendy Ualani, Tomiko Okimoto, Defendants. |
| Court | Hawaii Supreme Court |
Curtis E. Sherwood for defendant-appellant.
Mangmang Qiu Brown, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu, for plaintiff-appellee.
Defendant-Appellant Jobert Lyle Maldonado (Maldonado) appeals from the Judgment filed on January 24, 2003 in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court).1 A jury found Maldonado guilty of Count I, Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the First Degree in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 712-1241(1)(d) (Supp.2001)2; Counts II and III, Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the Third Degree in violation of HRS § 712-1243 (1993 & Supp.2001)3; Count IV, Unlawful Use of Drug Paraphernalia in violation of HRS § 329-43.5(a) (1993)4; and Count V, Promoting a Dangerous Drug in the Second Degree in violation of HRS § 712-1242(1)(b)(i) (1993 & Supp.2001).5
On appeal, Maldonado contends the circuit court erred by (1) denying his Motion to Suppress Evidence, filed August 7, 2002; (2) failing to declare a mistrial because the State violated the court's in limine order by using improper pronouns, the Prosecutor made improper remarks in his rebuttal argument, and Maldonado was denied his right to confront a witness; (3) denying Maldonado's motions for judgment of acquittal; (4) failing to dismiss Count II as a de minimis infraction; and (5) failing to instruct the jury regarding the fingerprint evidence. Because we agree with Maldonado's first contention that the circuit court erred in denying his Motion to Suppress Evidence, we vacate and remand.
On June 25, 2002, the State charged Maldonado with five counts relating to contraband. Maldonado filed his Motion to Suppress Evidence (Motion to Suppress) on August 7, 2002, asking that "all evidence obtained as a result of an illegal seizure and search of the Defendant's residence" be suppressed. Hearings on the motion took place on August 22, September 5, and September 16, 2002.
At the hearings, Deputy Sheriff Cayetano (Cayetano) testified that on June 10, 2002 he was contacted by the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) regarding a tip HPD had received on the whereabouts of one of Hawai`i's most wanted fugitives, Robert Maldonado (Robert), Maldonado's brother. The tipster provided information that Robert was at Maldonado's home and that firearms and drugs might be present. Police officers, including Officer Yosemori (Yosemori) and Officer Pagan (Pagan), went to Maldonado's residence to assist Cayetano in executing the arrest warrant for Robert. Based on Robert's status as "most-wanted," the officers were armed and had on bullet-proof vests. The officers approached the house, and Cayetano could see that the lights were on, the exterior screen door was closed, and the interior wooden door was open.
Cayetano had his gun unholstered and to his side. Cayetano testified that he simultaneously knocked on and opened the screen door and "announced, `Sheriff's Office, Police.'" It was only after Cayetano knocked and opened the screen door that he asked if he could enter and stated that he had a "retake warrant." Cayetano testified when he opened the screen door, he looked into the house and it was possible that a portion of his upper body crossed the threshold of the house, but he did not enter the house. After Cayetano opened the door, he saw Maldonado, Wendy Okimoto (Okimoto), and Kevin Wayne Anthony (Anthony)6 in a back room. The three individuals in the back room looked in the direction of the officers.
Cayetano testified that he said "Sheriff's Office, police; is Robert here?" and Maldonado said "No." Cayetano testified that he asked, and Maldonado said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." The officers then entered the house. Cayetano asked Maldonado if he was the owner of the place, and Maldonado said yes. Cayetano testified that he instructed Maldonado, Okimoto, and Anthony to exit the house for safety reasons and wait outside with other police officers; Maldonado, Okimoto, and Anthony left the house.
Yosemori testified that he knocked on the screen door, saw the screen door was unlocked, and then opened the screen door while announcing "Police and sheriffs." Yosemori testified that he opened the screen door because he could see people in the house through the screen door, but did not "have a good picture" of their movements, "like if anyone might have been pulling out a weapon or something." Yosemori stated that the screen door opened outward and he had his back against the door holding it open and had one foot on the platform in front of the door and one foot on the doorsill. Yosemori had his weapon out, but he was holding it down toward the ground. Yosemori testified that Cayetano told the people to come out of the room, and Yosemori asked if Robert was there. Maldonado said no. Yosemori asked who lived there, and Maldonado said he did. Yosemori asked Maldonado if he was Robert's brother, and Maldonado said yes. Yosemori testified that Cayetano asked if they could go inside and look for Robert, and Maldonado said "yeah."
Yosemori testified that he entered the house first and went into the closest room, but found no one in the room. He then went to the back room from which Maldonado, Okimoto, and Anthony had exited. Yosemori noticed that "right out in the open in the middle of the floor" there were three glass pipes with residue inside. Based on Yosemori's experience and training, he believed the pipes were used to smoke methamphetamine. Yosemori also found a glass dish with some crystal substance inside, a can of acetone, and a box of baking soda. Following procedure, Yosemori notified the narcotics division clandestine lab team.
Pagan testified that six or seven officers approached the house. The officers secured the perimeter of the house, and Pagan, Cayetano, and Yosemori went to the front door. As the officers approached the house, Pagan was holding a shotgun towards the house. While he was standing behind Cayetano and Yosemori at the front door, he held the shotgun pointed downward. Pagan testified that when Cayetano asked Maldonado if Robert was there, Maldonado answered no. Cayetano then asked Maldonado if they could "make entry into the residence to make sure that [Robert] wasn't there." Yosemori asked the same question. Pagan testified that he heard Maldonado answer yes to the officers' questions. After the officers entered the house, Pagan raised his shotgun, but he did not point it at Maldonado, Okimoto, and Anthony. Pagan testified that firearms were found by the police "on the side of the house."
Maldonado testified that on June 10, 2002, he was with Okimoto and Anthony in a room in his house when he heard "one loud noise that said oh, everybody, get out of the room." He stated that by the time he came out from the back room, the police were "right inside my doorway already; in fact, they were pretty much inside my house." The police had their guns out and one officer had a rifle pointing in the general direction of Maldonado, Okimoto, and Anthony. Maldonado claimed he felt threatened and scared because of the presence of the police and their firearms, even though no one made any verbal threats. Maldonado testified that when the police asked whether they could look for Robert, Maldonado said "I guess" or "yeah," agreeing with the request.
The circuit court denied Maldonado's Motion to Suppress and issued its "Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order Denying Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence" on November 12, 2002. The circuit court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law were as follows:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. On June 10, 2002, the Department of Public Safety and the Honolulu Police Department acted on a tip that a parole violator, Robert Maldonado (defendant JOBERT MALDONADO's brother) was currently at an apartment at 1704A Apaki Street.
2. A Sheriff's deputy and Honolulu Police Department officers were in possession of an arrest warrant authorizing them to arrest Robert Maldonado; and when the officers went to that address they confronted defendant JOBERT MALDONADO.
3. According to the information given to the officers, firearms were purported to be present at the premises where Robert Maldonado had been reported which was defendant JOBERT MALDONADO's residence.
4. When they approached the premises where Robert Maldonado was reported to be, one or more officers knocked on the door, announced their presence and office (both the police and the sheriff) and demanded entry; then one or more officers partially entered the front door of defendant MALDONADO's residence, by opening a screen door outward and crossing the threshold with part of one officer's body.
5. The wooden interior door had been open before the officers arrived at the premises, and the officers could see through the screen door to the interior of the residence before opening the screen door.
6. The officers asked defendant JOBERT MALDONADO if Robert Maldonado was present, but when defendant MALDONADO told them Robert was not there, the officers asked to check the premises anyway.
7. Defendant MALDONADO gave the officers permission to check the premises at which time the officers entered, and once inside they saw what appeared to be a "clandestine lab" used for the production of methamphetamine.
8. Also observed within the residence were the two other co-defendants, KEVIN WAYNE ANTHONY and WENDY UALANI TOMIKO OKIMOTO, who had both exited the room where the purported clandestine lab was found.
1. The officers who approached defendant MALDONADO were in compliance with § 804-11[sic] HRS requirements to knock...
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State v. Maldonado
...the circuit court's January 24, 2003 judgment and remanding for further proceedings. State v. Maldonado, No. 25606 108 Hawai`i ___, 121 P.3d 911 (Haw.App. June 6, 2005) [hereinafter, ICA Opinion]. The State of Hawai`i [hereinafter, the prosecution] subsequently applied for a writ of certior......