State v. Spencer, 9050
| Decision Date | 12 March 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 9050,9050 |
| Citation | 67 Haw. 95,678 P.2d 1081 |
| Parties | STATE of Hawaii, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Orlando Kaipo SPENCER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Hawaii Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Proof that a person driving a vehicle was deliberately drawing public attention to the vehicle's acceleration capabilities is required to establish prohibited "exhibition of acceleration" under HRS § 291C-103(a). Evidence that the vehicle's tires squealed as appellant accelerated through a turn from a stopped position at a traffic light is insufficient, alone, to establish the offense.
Gregory K. Tanaka, Deputy Public Defender, Honolulu, on the brief, for appellant.
Emlyn H. Higa, Deputy Pros. Atty., Honolulu, on the brief, for appellee.
Before LUM, C.J., and NAKAMURA, PADGETT, HAYASHI and WAKATSUKI, JJ.
This is an appeal from a conviction for a violation of HRS § 291C-103. Appellant contends that the statute in question is unconstitutionally vague and that there was no evidence to support the conviction. We reverse on the second ground without reaching the first.
Section 291C-103(a) provides:
(a) No person shall drive any vehicle in any race, speed competition or contest, drag race or acceleration contest, test of physical endurance, exhibition of speed or acceleration, or for the purpose of making a speed record, and no person shall in manner participate in any such race, competition, contest, test, or exhibition.
Subsection (b) defines a drag race and subsection (c) defines racing. Subsection (d) states the penalty for violation of the section.
The evidence in this case was that the appellant stopped at a red traffic light in the left turn lane on Ala Moana Boulevard at the intersection of Hobron Lane. He then made a left turn into Hobron Lane and when he shifted from first gear into second, at 20 m.p.h., his tires screeched for a distance of 65-75 feet through his turn. There was no contention that the appellant was engaged in any race, speed competition or contest, drag race or acceleration contest or test of physical endurance. The only contention is that he was engaged in an exhibition of speed or acceleration.
We think it clear that the mere fact that there was screeching of tires as appellant accelerated during a turn does not establish an exhibition as the term is used in the statute. Appellee has cited People v. Heckard, 164 Colo. 19, 431 P.2d 1014 (1967), on the constitutionality issue. In that case, the statute...
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...two primary decisions cited by defendant in support of his vagueness claim do not compel a different result. In State v. Spencer, 67 Haw. 95, 678 P.2d 1081, 1081-82 (1984), the court expressly declined to reach the issue of the constitutionality of the statute and held merely that there was......
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78 Hawai'i 98, State v. Bolosan
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