No. 28935  – Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 10:15 a.m.

STATE OF HAWAII, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GERALD OLIVEROS, Defendant-Appellant.

Attorney(s) for Defendant-Appellant
John M. Tonaki, Public Defender and Taryn R. Tomasa, Deputy Public Defender

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff-Appellee
Peter B. Carlisle, Prosecuting Attorney and Stephen K. Tsushima, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney

COURT:  Nakamura, CJ; Fujise and Leonard, JJ.

SPECIAL NOTE: The above argument will take place at the

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
WILLIAM S. RICHARDSON SCHOOL OF LAWMOOT COURT COURTROOM
2515 DOLE STREETHONOLULU, HI  96822

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief description(s):

Defendant-Appellant Gerald Oliveros (Oliveros) appeals from a judgment of conviction for terroristic threatening in the second degree, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) §§ 707-715 and 707-717 (1993).

On appeal, Oliveros argues that (1) there was insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction because his statement did not constitute a “true threat,” in that the alleged “threat” was conditional, was not imminent, and failed to convey a gravity of purpose or a likelihood of execution; (2) the trial court erred in admitting Oliveros’s alleged possession of a gun two weeks prior to the date of the incident and testimony that after the incident, Oliveros entered a house uninvited, looking for the complaining witness; (3) the trial court abused its discretion in denying Oliveros’s motion for a mistrial based on prosecutorial misconduct, when the prosecutor referred to the unregistered status an alleged gun possessed by Oliveros, in violation of the trial court’s pre-trial ruling; and (4) the trial court committed plain error in instructing the jury on the elements of terroristic threatening by omitting a portion of the instruction to which Oliveros had objected.