NO. 28849 – Thursday, March 5, 2009 – 9 a.m.

STATE OF HAWAI`I, Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. DOUGLAS MILLER, Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant.
(Abuse of Family and Household Member)

Attorney(s) for Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant(s)
Hayden Aluli

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

COURT: RTYM, CJ; PAN, SRA & JED, JJ, and Circuit Judge Collen K. Hirai assigned by reason of vacancy.

NOTE: Order assigning Judge Collen K. Hirai due to a vacancy, filed 01/09/09.

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Brief description:

Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant Douglas Miller (Petitioner) filed an Application for Writ of Certiorari (Application) seeking review of the judgment of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) filed on October 3, 2008, pursuant to its September 15, 2008 Summary Disposition Order (SDO), affirming the October 15, 2007 Judgment of conviction and sentence of probation filed by the family court of the second circuit (the court) for the charge of Assault in the Third Degree. In his Application, Petitioner argues that the ICA gravely erred by holding (1) that Petitioner, having failed to claim an alleged breach of the plea agreement by Respondent State of Hawai`i (Respondent) at the sentencing hearing, did not properly preserve the issue for appeal, and therefore waived it, and (2) that Petitioner failed to show that the family court had abused its discretion by denying Petitioner’s Deferred Acceptance of his No Contest Plea (DANCP) motion due to an alleged “categorical” policy of rejecting DANCP motions that involve offenders over the age of 21 and a charge of assault in the third degree.