State v. Rodrigues
| Decision Date | 29 November 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 26679.,26679. |
| Citation | 147 P.3d 825 |
| Parties | STATE of Hawai`i, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ralph J. RODRIGUES, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Hawaii Supreme Court |
Artemio C. Baxa, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, on the briefs, for the plaintiff-appellee State of Hawai`i.
Matthew S. Kohm, Wailuku, on the briefs, for the defendant-appellant Ralph J. Rodrigues.
The defendant-appellant Ralph J. Rodrigues appeals from the June 15, 2004 judgment of the circuit court of the second circuit, the Honorable Shackley F. Raffetto presiding, convicting him of theft in the second degree, in violation of Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 708-831(1)(b) (Supp.1998).1 On appeal, Rodrigues asserts a single point of error, to wit, that, during its case-in-chief, the prosecution improperly commented on his alleged assertion of his right to remain silent by eliciting the fact that Rodrigues declined to allow his voluntary statement to police to be audiotaped. For the reasons discussed infra in section III, Rodrigues's arguments are unavailing. Accordingly, this court affirms the circuit court's judgment of conviction.
In July 2001, Rodrigues was working as a field welder for Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC & S) on Maui. On July 31, 2001, an HC & S work crew informed Gerard Cambra, the head of HC & S's welding shop, that a portable arc welder with a purple cover mounted on a trailer was missing from where it had been secured the previous evening. It was the only purple welder HC & S owned and the trailer was distinctive in that it was constructed of more expensive stainless steel and was fitted with aluminum "mag" wheels. The incident was reported to HC & S security, and the welder was later reported as stolen.
In October 2001, Rodrigues called Benjamin Santiago, an acquaintance at HC & S who worked as the electrical supervisor in the power generation station, to arrange to bring to Santiago's shop what he asserted was his personal welding machine in the hopes it could be repaired. Rodrigues dropped the machine off on October 23, 2001, whereupon HC & S employees noticed that it resembled the missing welder and alerted Robert Motooka, HC & S's administrator of safety and risk management. Motooka cross-referenced the unit and engine serial numbers on the machine with those in company invoices for the stolen machine and confirmed that they matched.2 The Maui Police Department (MPD) was contacted on October 25, 2001. Officer John Sang photographed the welder extensively and then proceeded to Rodrigues's home to investigate further, where he located the purple cover of the welder in Rodrigues's garage.
On October 26, 2001, Rodrigues attended a meeting at HC & S with Motooka to explore how Rodrigues came into possession of the welder. Rodrigues gave Motooka a statement similar in detail to the one he later supplied to the police, see infra this section, except that he told Motooka that he had given the trailer that accompanied the welder to an acquaintance named Rey.3
Ian Miyagawa, an acquaintance of Rodrigues's, later testified at trial that, during the summer of 2001, Rodrigues had brought a "brownish" arc welder, unmounted, on a stainless steel trailer to Miyagawa's home to assist in modifying a boat trailer. Miyagawa identified the welder as the one later determined to be owned by HC & S, see supra note 2. Miyagawa testified that Rodrigues kept the trailer at Miyagawa's home for at least two weeks; Rodrigues initially represented that the trailer was on loan, but eventually stated that he wanted to sell it for $1500.00. Rodrigues ultimately sold the trailer for $150.00 to Rey, who lived on Miyagawa's street.
On December 19, 2001, MPD Detective Donald Kanemitsu spoke with Rodrigues in a police interrogation room. Detective Kanemitsu later testified that Rodrigues was "cooperative" and "freely providing information." He advised Rodrigues regarding his rights to remain silent and to an attorney, as set forth in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), and Rodrigues reviewed and signed a standard warning and waiver form.4
Detective Kanemitsu testified that Rodrigues stated during the interview that he and a friend, Shawn Kanhai, had gone to a local store to buy lunch and that Rodrigues had observed a flyer advertising a used welder for sale for $1500.00.5 Rodrigues told Detective Kanemitsu that he had called the number on the flyer on his cell phone and had spoken with a man identifying himself as Tony. Rodrigues said that he and Tony had arranged to meet and that Rodrigues had bargained the price down to $1200.00 due to the condition of the trailer upon which the welder was mounted. Rodrigues then told Detective Kanemitsu that he had taken the trailer — which he maintained was not composed of stainless steel — back to his shop at HC & S, where he removed the welder from the trailer, salvaged many of the trailer's parts, including the spindles,6 and discarded the rest in a dumpster. Detective Kanemitsu testified that Rodrigues could not provide Tony's telephone number,7 but that Rodrigues described the man as a Filipino male, five foot seven inches tall, weighing 170 pounds, with shoulder length hair, and driving an older Toyota pickup truck.8 Rodrigues told the detective that he retained the spindles from the trailer because an acquaintance, Rey, had expressed an interest in buying them. Further investigation led Detective Kanemitsu to Rey, who was in possession of the stainless steel trailer later identified by Cambra as the stolen HC & S trailer, see infra this section.
After Rodrigues completed his statement to Detective Kanemitsu — during which time the detective took notes — Detective Kanemitsu asked Rodrigues whether he would repeat the statement for him on tape. Rodrigues declined. On January 29, 2002, Detective Kanemitsu again met with Rodrigues, who elected at that time to retain a lawyer and to make no further statements to police.
On February 1, 2002, Cambra was invited to the Wailuku Police Station, where, on behalf of HC & S, he identified and reclaimed the stainless steel trailer taken from Rey's house.
On December 23, 2002, a grand jury indicted Rodrigues on the charge of theft in the second degree, in violation of HRS § 708-831(1)(b), see supra note 1.
Prior to trial, the circuit court conducted a voluntariness hearing with regard to Rodrigues's statements made to Motooka and Detective Kanemitsu. Detective Kanemitsu testified that he had used a standard warning and waiver form and had confirmed that Rodrigues understood English. Rodrigues had read along while Detective Kanemitsu read the form aloud. Detective Kanemitsu asked Rodrigues to initial after each line to indicate that he understood, and Rodrigues had done so. Rodrigues then affixed his signature to the document. Detective Kanematsu reviewed the "waiver of rights" section of the document, and Rodrigues initialed each line and signed and dated it. Rodrigues did not request an attorney, and it was uncontested that Detective Kanemitsu did not threaten or coerce him.
On cross-examination, Rodrigues's counsel questioned Detective Kanemitsu extensively concerning the procedures employed in the recordation of Rodrigues's statement, including the fact that Rodrigues had declined to allow a tape recording:
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