No. 29703 – Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 9 a.m.

STATE OF HAWAII, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. CHESTER PACQUING, Defendant-Appellee.

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff-Appellant
Honorable Peter B. Carlisle, Prosecuting Attorney, and  Brian R. Vincent, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, City & County of Honolulu

Attorney(s) for Defendant-Appellee
Honorable John M. Tonaki, Public Defender, and James S. Tabe, Deputy Public Defender

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

SPECIAL NOTE:    The above argument will take place in the Supreme Court courtroom on the Second Floor of Aliʻiolani Hale, 417 South King Street, Honolulu, Hawaii.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief description:

Plaintiff-Appellant State of Hawaii (State) appeals from the “Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order Granting Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for De Minimis Infraction” entered by the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court).  The State charged Defendant-Appellee Chester Pacquing (Defendant) by complaint with one count of unauthorized possession of confidential personal information, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 708-839.55 (Supp. 2009).  Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the charge as a de minimis infraction pursuant to HRS § 702-236 (1993).  The circuit court granted the motion and dismissed the charge without prejudice as to the State charging Defendant under a different section of the HRS, but otherwise dismissed the complaint with prejudice.  The circuit court ruled that within 90 days of its order, the State may re-charge Defendant with the offense of unsworn falsification to authorities, in violation of HRS § 710-1063(1)(b) (1993).

On appeal, the State argues that “[t]he circuit court abused its discretion in dismissing the instant case as de minimis infraction where Defendant intentionally possessed and used the identity of his former neighbor to avoid taking responsibility for traffic citations, to avoid being arrested for outstanding bench warrant and to obtain his former neighbor’s driver’s license number from HPD dispatch.”