Latest Case: State v. Medeiros (Criminal Law)

Taking Stock: A Review of Justice Stevens’s Last Book and an Appreciation of His Extraordinary Service on the Supreme Court

RODGER CITRON

Rodger D. Citron, the Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship and a Professor of Law at Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, comments on the late Justice John Paul Stevens’s last book, The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years. Citron laments that, in his view, the memoir is too long yet does not say enough, but he lauds the justice for his outstanding service on the Supreme Court.

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State v. Medeiros

Docket: SCWC-17-0000829

Opinion Date: December 20, 2019

Judge: Mark E. Recktenwald

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court overruled State v. Hamili, 952 P.2d 390 (1998), which held that prohibited fishing with gill nets was a nonprobationable offense, holding that the underlying offenses at issue in this case were probationable, and therefore, Hamili is overruled. Defendant entered into a plea agreement whereby he agreed to plead guilty or no contest to hunting hours (count III) and artificial light prohibited (count IV), both petty misdemeanors. Defendant filed a motion for a deferred acceptance of no contest (DANC) plea requesting that the circuit court defer acceptance of his no contest pleas pursuant to Haw. Rev. Stat. Chapter 853. The circuit court denied Defendant's motion for a DANC plea. Defendant was subsequently convicted of count III and count IV. The intermediate court of appeals affirmed, concluding that Defendant was ineligible for a DANC plea under Haw. Rev. Stat. 853-4(a)(5) because the offenses to which he pled no contest were nonprobationable. The Supreme Court vacated the ICA's judgment on appeal and Defendant's conviction and sentence, holding that the district court erred in denying Defendant's motion for a DANC plea.