No. SCCQ-24-0000165, Thursday, February 20, 2025, 5 p.m.

PUEO KAI MCGUIRE, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I, MITCHELL D. ROTH, KELDEN WALTJEN, KATE PERAZICH, and SYLVIA WAN, Defendants-Appellees.

[ Listen to the entire audio recording in mp3 format ]

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

William S. Richardson School of Law
Classroom 2 (Courtroom) and
           Classroom 3 (Overflow)
2515 Dole Street
Honolulu, HI 96822

The oral argument will also be livestreamed for public viewing via the Judiciary’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/hawaiicourts and ‘Ōlelo Community Television 55 (olelo.org/tv-schedule).

Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellant PUEO KAI MCGUIRE:

     Carl H. Osaki

Attorney for Defendants-Appellees COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I, MITCHELL D. ROTH, KELDEN WALTJEN, KATE PERAZICH AND SYLVIA WAN:

     Ryan K. Thomas, Deputy Corporation Counsel

NOTE: Order accepting certified question, filed 05/31/24.

COURT: Recktenwald, C.J., McKenna, Eddins, Ginoza, and Devens, JJ.

Brief Description:

Pueo Kai McGuire sued the County of Hawai‘i and current and former Hawai‘i County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney (OPA) attorneys in their individual and official capacities in federal court.  McGuire alleged that the defendants violated his constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 because OPA had wrongfully seized him, denied him liberty, due process, and adequate, effective, and meaningful access to the courts, and maliciously prosecuted him for the sexual assault of a Hawai‘i Police Department detective’s daughter.  OPA later moved to nolle prosequi the case, and the state court dismissed the charges with prejudice.  McGuire, at the time, worked as a deputy public defender for the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) in Hilo.

In federal court, McGuire claimed that OPA prosecuted him despite clear evidence he did not commit the crime.  They did this, he alleged, to embarrass OPD and boost the political campaigns for two of the prosecuting attorneys.  The defendants moved to dismiss McGuire’s complaint.  Because OPA charged McGuire with sexual assault in the first, third, and fourth degrees, all state law violations, they did not act as county officials, but rather as state officials.  And, the defendants argued, because county prosecuting attorneys “prosecute offenses against the laws of the State under the authority of the attorney general of the State,” the state attorney general has the authority to control county prosecutor conduct.  Thus, the defendants said, county prosecutors are state officials, and sovereign immunity protected them from 42 U.S.C. § 1983 liability.

The United States District Court for the District of Hawai‘i certified the following question to this Court, which we accepted:

Under Hawai‘i law, does a county Prosecuting Attorney and/or Deputy Prosecuting Attorney act on behalf of the county or the state when he or she is preparing to prosecute and/or prosecuting criminal violations of state law?