No. SCWC-18-0000420, Thursday, October 31, 2019, 11:15 a.m.

STATE OF HAWAI I, Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. WELDEN MANUEL, 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

Attorney for petitioner:

William H. Jameson Jr., Deputy Public Defender

Attorney for respondent:

Loren J. Thomas, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney

NOTE: Order accepting Application for Writ of Certiorari, filed 09/03/19.

COURT: Recktenwald, C.J., Nakayama, McKenna, Pollack, and Wilson, JJ.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

Brief Description:

Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant Welden Manuel(Manuel) was charged with assault in the second degree after he stabbed the complaining witness (CW) in the chest during an altercation.

At trial, Manuel claimed self-defense. At the close of trial, the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court) instructed the jury on assault in the second degree, assault in the third degree, and assault in the third degree by mutual affray. The jury convicted Manuel of assault in the second degree.

On appeal to the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA), Manuel argued that the circuit court should have also instructed the jury on reckless endangering in the second degree because, he argued, it is a lesser included offense of assault in the second degree. The ICA affirmed the conviction, and held that the circuit court’s failure to instruct the jury on reckless endangering in the second degree was harmless error.

In Manuel’s application for writ of certiorari, he asks whether the ICA gravely erred when it concluded that the circuit court did not commit plain error by failing to instruct the jury on reckless endangering in the second degree.