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Oral Arguments before the Hawai`i Supreme Court

NO. 28653 – Thursday, September 3, 2009 – 11 a.m.

STATE OF HAWAI`I, Respondent-Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. WILLIAM EDWARD WERLE, Petitioner-Defendant-Appellant. (Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of an Intoxicant)

Attorney(s) for Petitioner-Defendant-Appellant(s)
Honorable John M. Tonaki, Public Defender, and Phyllis J. Hironaka, Deputy Public Defender

Attorney(s) for Respondent-Plaintiff-Appellee(s)
Honorable Benjamin M. Acob, Prosecuting Attorney, and Justine T. M. Hura, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, County of Maui

NOTE: Certificate of Recusal by Mark E. Recktenwald filed 6/24/09.

NOTE: Order assigning Judge Derrick H. M. Chan in place of Recktenwald, recused, filed 7/9/09.

COURT: RTYM, CJ; PAN, SRA & JED, JJ. and Circuit Judge Derrick H. M. Chan in place of Recktenwald, recused.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant William Edward Werle filed a timely Application for Writ of Certiorari from the Intermediate Court of Appeals’ Memorandum Opinion in State v. Werle, No. 28653 (March 11, 2009). The ICA’s Memorandum Opinion affirmed the district court of the second circuit’s judgment convicting Werle of Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of an Intoxicant in violation of Hawai?i Revised Statutes § 291E-61(a) and/or (d) (Supp. 2006). In his Application, Werle argues that “the ICA gravely erred, in violation of Werle’s rights to due process and fair trial, by affirming the trial court’s admission into evidence of his purported blood alcohol test result, despite five evidentiary foundational defects” relating to the validity of the “REA/Abbott AxSYM” blood alcohol testing method used to determine Werle’s blood alcohol content.