No. SCWC-13-0000086, Tuesday, April 28, 2015, 11:15 a.m.

STATE OF HAWAI`I, Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. JUNE-JUNE MAS ABDON, Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant.

The above-captioned case has been set for argument on the merits at:

Supreme Court Courtroom
Ali`iolani Hale, 2nd Floor
417 South King Street
Honolulu, HI 96813

Attorneys for Petitioner:

Phyllis J. Hironaka and Pamela I. Lundquist, Deputy Public Defenders

Attorney for Respondent:

Stephen K. Tsushima, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney

NOTE: Order accepting Application for Writ of Certiorari, filed 02/04/15.

COURT: MER, CJ; PAN, SSM, RWP, and MDW, JJ.

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Brief Description:

Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant June-June Mas Abdon (“Abdon”) filed an application for writ of certiorari to review the October 22, 2014 judgment of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (“ICA”), entered pursuant to its September 26, 2014 Memorandum Opinion. The ICA’s judgment vacated the Circuit Court of the First Circuit’s (“circuit court”) January 16, 2013 judgment of conviction and sentence for sexual assault in the first degree, based on the circuit court’s failure to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of sexual assault in the third degree.

In his application, Abdon does not challenge the ICA’s latter ruling, but asserts that the ICA gravely erred in rejecting his claim that the circuit court erred in denying his post-trial motion for judgment of acquittal. Abdon’s post-trial motion for judgment of acquittal argued that the State failed to adduce evidence at trial of the date his prosecution commenced, and accordingly, the State did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt “facts establishing that the offense was committed within” the statute of limitations as required by Hawai`i Revised Statutes § 701-108.