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Oral Arguments before the Hawai`i Supreme Court

NO. 28768 Thursday, January 15, 2009 – 9 a.m.

STATE OF HAWAI`I, Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. YVONNE M. McMILLEN, Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant. (Methamphetamine Trafficking in the Second Degree)

Attorney(s) for Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant(s)
William H. Jameson, Jr.

Attorney(s) for Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellee(s)
Honorable Peter B. Carlisle, Prosecuting Attorney, and Donn R. Fudo, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, City & County of Honolulu

NOTE: Order of assigning Judge Steven S. Alm, due to a vacancy, filed 1/6/09.

COURT: RTYM, CJ; PAN, SRA & JED, JJ, and Steven S. Alm, due to a vacancy.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief description

On December 16, 2008, this court accepted petitioner/defendant-appellant Yvonne McMillen’s application for a writ of certiorari to review the Intermediate Court of Appeals’ (ICA) August 19, 2008 judgment on appeal, entered pursuant to its July 29, 2008 summary disposition order (SDO). Therein, the ICA affirmed the Circuit Court of the First Circuit’s August 29, 2007 judgment convicting McMillen of and sentencing her for “knowingly distributing methamphetamine,” in violation of Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 712-1240.8 (Supp. 2007) (unlawful methamphetamine trafficking). On application, McMillen argues that the ICA gravely erred in affirming her conviction because there was insufficient evidence to show that she “distributed” methamphetamine. Further, McMillen argues that, at most, the evidence showed that she was merely a “procuring agent” of the methamphetamine buyer and, thus, was not criminally liable.