STAND. COM. REP. 3093

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 2683

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2683 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DEFERRED ACCEPTANCE OF GUILTY PLEA AND DEFERRED ACCEPTANCE OF NOLO CONTENDERE PLEA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to include offenses involving substantial bodily injury to the list of offenses for which a plea of guilty or nolo contendere is not permitted.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of the Attorney General, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Hawaii, Domestic Violence Clearing House and Legal Hotline, and Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Office of the Public Defender.

Your Committee finds that the deferred acceptance of guilty plea (DAG) or deferred acceptance of nolo contendere plea (DANC) is permitted for cases involving substantial bodily injuries. However, a DAG or DANC is not permitted for the less severe offense involving "bodily injury." To avoid the incongruous situation where committing a more serious injury can qualify for a DAG or DANC where a less serious one cannot, your Committee believes that a DAG and DANC should also be precluded for cases involving substantial bodily injuries.

Your Committee adopted the amendments suggested by the Department of the Attorney General and the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu by:

(1) Creating subsections within section 853-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS);

(2) Precluding DAG and DANC pleas when charged with a conspiracy or solicitation to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly kill another person or cause substantial bodily injury to another person;

(3) Deleting paragraphs six to thirteen;

(4) Adding new subsections to:

(a) Preclude DAG and DANC pleas for a defendant that has a prior conviction for a felony committed in any state, federal, or foreign jurisdiction or that has been previously granted a DAG or DANC;

(b) Provide that DAG and DANC pleas shall not apply when the offense charged is a felony, except that the court has the discretion to apply DAG or DANC pleas for certain felonies;

(c) List specific offenses where DAG and DANC pleas do not apply; and

(d) Give the courts the option to adopt other criteria for DAG and DANC pleas;

(5) Adding a savings clause; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2683, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2683, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair