State v. Plichta

• Decision Date: 30 November 2007
• Docket Number: No. 27294.,27294.
• Citation: 172 P.3d 512,116 Haw. 200
• Parties: STATE of Hawai`i, Plaintiff-Appellee-Respondent, v. James George PLICHTA, Defendant-Appellant-Petitioner.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

172 P.3d 512

116 Haw. 200

STATE of Hawai`i, Plaintiff-Appellee-Respondent, v. James George PLICHTA, Defendant-Appellant-Petitioner.

No. 27294.

Supreme Court of Hawai`i.

November 30, 2007.

As Corrected December 6, 2007.

Karen T. Nakasone, Deputy Public Defender, for the defendant-appellant-petitioner James George Plichta, on the briefs and the application.

James M. Anderson, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, for the plaintiff-appellee-respondent State of Hawai`i, on the briefs.

MOON, C.J., LEVINSON, and NAKAYAMA, JJ., and ACOBA, J., dissenting separately, with whom DUFFY, J., joins.

Opinion of the Court by LEVINSON, J.

We accepted the plaintiff-appellant-petitioner James George Plichta's application for a writ of certiorari in order to review the summary disposition order (SDO) of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) in State v. Plichta, 112 Hawai`i 471, 146 P.3d 631 (App. 2006). The ICA affirmed the judgment of the first circuit court, the Honorable Karl K. Sakamoto presiding, convicting Plichta of first degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, in violation of Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 708-836.5 (Supp.1996)¹ (Counts I & III), robbery in the first degree, in violation of HRS § 708-840(1)(b)(ii) (Supp. 1998)² (Count II), robbery in the second degree, in violation of HRS § 708-841(1)(a) (1993)³ (Count IV), unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, in violation of HRS § 708-836 (1993 & Supp.2001)⁴ (Count V), and first degree assault against a law enforcement officer, in violation of HRS § 707-712.5(1)(a) (2003 Supp.)⁵ (Counts VII & VIII), all arising out of incidents occurring on August 1, 2003.

In his application, Plichta contends that the ICA gravely erred in concluding that the circuit court was correct in (1) permitting the plaintiff-appellee-respondent State of Hawai`i [hereinafter, "the prosecution"] to impeach his credibility at trial, notwithstanding HRS § 704-416 (1993),⁶ by introducing evidence of statements that he did not make to any or all of the three court-appointed medical examiners regarding his purported beliefs concerning aliens, (2) giving limiting instructions to the jury to consider such evidence only for impeachment purposes, and (3) denying his counsel's motion for a mistrial and to withdraw so that counsel could testify on Plichta's behalf to rehabilitate his credibility. See HRS § 602-59(b) (Supp.2006) (explaining that in deciding whether to grant an application, this court considers whether the ICA's decision reflects "(1) [g]rave errors of law or of fact[]" and whether "the magnitude of those errors ... dictat[es] the need for further appeal"). Plichta contends that the circuit court's alleged errors are not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

For the reasons discussed infra in section III, we conclude that HRS § 704-416 does not govern the admissibility of Plichta's non-statements to any or all of the examiners regarding his concerns about aliens. Consequently, the circuit court's admission of the non-statements into evidence and its limiting instruction to the jury to consider the evidence only for impeachment purposes were not erroneous. Furthermore, we conclude that the circuit court did not err in denying Plichta's counsel's motion to withdraw so that counsel could serve as a witness in an effort to rehabilitate Plichta's testimony. We therefore hold that the circuit court correctly denied Plichta's motion for a mistrial. Accordingly, the ICA committed no grave error in affirming the circuit court's April 12, 2005 judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background And Charging

On the morning of August 1, 2003, Plichta was in front of a store in a strip mall on Sand Island Access Road, located in the City and County of Honolulu. People in the store heard car alarms outside, so a customer, Jonathan Jepson, left the store to check on his car, whereupon he was confronted by Plichta, who demanded his car keys. Jepson refused and returned to the store, where a store employee, Jason Reed, called the police. Plichta damaged the passenger side window of Jepson's car and proceeded down the strip mall striking a number other vehicles with a hatchet.

Reed walked toward Plichta, telling him to leave and that he had called the police. He observed that Plichta was very agitated and had long, wild hair, and dilated, bloodshot eyes. In Reed's view, Plichta appeared to be under the influence of an intoxicant. Plichta refused to leave, claiming that he would "liberate" himself and Reed. Consequently, Reed returned immediately to the store.

After a delivery van parked at the strip mall, Plichta pulled a handtruck out of the back of the vehicle's bay and threw it into the street. The driver of the van, Hilarion R. Sayson, Jr., exited the vehicle to investigate and, as he was approaching the back of the van, Plichta sprayed him in the face with pepper spray, causing him to fall to his knees. As Sayson began to stand up, Plichta sprayed him in the face a second time. When Plichta left momentarily, Reed, accompanied by firemen, carried Sayson to safety. Plichta returned and entered the van. At this point, officers from the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) began to arrive and Reed informed them that Plichta was in the van, prompting an officer to position his vehicle in front of the van. Plichta backed the van out of the parking stall and accelerated vigorously for approximately sixty to seventy feet into the police cruiser, knocking it back roughly fifteen feet. Plichta reversed the van several feet and again accelerated into the police cruiser. Ten seconds later, an additional four police cars arrived on the scene, and Plichta exited the van and attempted to escape on foot.

Plichta fled behind the store, pursued by four officers, and continued down the street. At one point, he turned around and sprayed two of the officers with pepper spray, one directly in the face. Nevertheless, the officers continued their pursuit of Plichta to a nearby store, when he again turned around to spray them, but, this time, as he was turning, he tripped and fell, and the officers detained him.

They handcuffed Plichta and informed him that he was under arrest, to which Plichta responded that he was the President of the United States, the chief of police, and part of an international agency and that the officers were "all in trouble." In response to the officers' questions about his name, address, social security number, and birth date, Plichta said that he had been smoking ice a few hours before. At this point, Plichta was twitching repeatedly and attempting to wiggle out of the handcuffs.

On August 7, 2003, Plichta was charged with the seven counts set forth supra, in addition to a count of first degree criminal property damage, in violation of HRS § 708-820(1)(a) (Supp.2003)⁷ (Count VI).

B. The Medical Examinations Of Drs. Stojanovich, Gitter, and Wade

Shortly after his arrest on August 1, 2003, Plichta told his counsel that, in the events leading up to his arrest, he believed that he was being pursued by aliens. On August 29, 2003, Plichta disclosed his intention to rely on the legal theory of lack of penal responsibility by filing a motion for appointment of examiners to determine his fitness to proceed and penal responsibility, as provided by HRS § 704-404 (1993 & Supp.1997).⁸ On September 19, 2003, the circuit court entered an order appointing Drs. Kosta Stojanovich, Olaf Gitter, and Terence Wade as examiners to determine Plichta's fitness to proceed and penal responsibility. See supra note 8.

Dr. Stojanovich interviewed Plichta on October 24, 2003, and filed his report to the circuit court on October 30, 2003. He opined that, as a result of an acute psychotic breakdown, Plichta, at the time of the events giving rise to the present matter, much more likely than not suffered from (1) an impairment of his cognitive capacity such that he could not substantially appreciate the wrongfulness of his alleged conduct and (2) an impairment of his volitional capacity such that he could not conform his behavior to the standards required by law. While the report suggested that Plichta believed that there were "many people who were `after' him for several months," and that he had an "enemy who had been after him for many previous months," the report did not indicate that Plichta had mentioned his beliefs concerning aliens to Dr. Stojanovich.

Dr. Gitter interviewed Plichta on October 27, 2003 and filed his report to the circuit court on October 30, 2003. He opined that Plichta's cognitive and volitional capacities at the time of the alleged offenses were substantially impaired as a result of a methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder, but not depression. The report indicated that "Plichta denied experiencing auditory, visual, olfactory and tactile hallucinations, as well as ideas of reference and mind reading," what Dr. Gitter "termed psychotic target symptoms." Plichta did talk "about being followed by various people who ha[d] been causing difficulties for him in the past," but the report was silent as to any mention of aliens by Plichta.

Dr. Wade interviewed Plichta on October 29, 2003 and filed his report on November 3, 2003. He opined that Plichta's prior methamphetamine use impaired his capacities to conform his conduct to the requirements of law and to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time of the events leading to his arrest. The report indicated that Plichta's "conversation had a pervasive theme of people and the world being against him," but, again, the report did not discuss any beliefs pertaining to aliens.

Although it is not reflected in the record, the circuit court apparently transmitted copies of the three examiners' reports to the prosecution and, more importantly, to Plichta's counsel, as required by HRS § 704-404, see supra note 8.

C. Trial

1. Plichta's opening statement

Plichta's trial commenced on January 10, 2005. In her opening statement, Plichta's couns...