Background
Self-represented Petitioner-Appellant Rocky Hermanns-Raymond appealed from the Circuit Court of the Second Circuit’s April 21, 2025 “Court’s Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order Denying Rule 40 Petition.” The appeal arose from Circuit Court Case Nos. 2CPN-24-0000012 and 2CPC-22-0000720. The Intermediate Court of Appeals’ order does not describe the underlying claims or the circuit court’s reasons for denying the petition.
Hermanns-Raymond did not file the statement of jurisdiction or opening brief and took no further action in the appeal. His address for service of process was the Halawa Correctional Facility. The appellate clerk served him with a copy of the court’s December 30, 2025 order, but the copy was returned to the clerk on January 12, 2026, by U.S. mail. The returned item bore a label stating “Return to Sender[,]” “Attempted – Not Known[,]” and “Unable to Forward[,]” and a checkmark indicating “Not Here[.]”
On September 30, 2026, the appellate court ordered Respondent-Appellee State of Hawaii to file a declaration indicating Hermanns-Raymond’s custody status and his current or last known location and address. Deputy prosecuting attorney Gerald K. Enriques filed a declaration stating that, “[t]o the best of the State’s knowledge, Hermanns-Raymond was reported as deceased while in custody at Halawa Correctional Facility on December 19, 2025.”
The Court’s Holding
The declaration attached a December 20, 2025 “reporting of a death” from the Director of the State of Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to the Governor. The State obtained the report from the department’s public website. The report indicates that the entry identified in the order as Hermanns-Raymond, Rocky M.K. died on December 19, 2025, at Halawa Correctional Facility.
Based on the record, the court ordered the appeal dismissed as moot. It cited State v. Makaila, 79 Hawaii 40, 45 & n.11, 897 P.2d 967, 972 & n.11 (1995). The court also ordered that all pending motions be dismissed.
This is a disposition order, not a decision on the merits of the Rule 40 petition. The court did not review or decide the claims underlying the petition, and it did not affirm or reverse the circuit court’s findings, conclusions, or denial of relief. The order supplies no substantive analysis beyond the record of the reported death, the mootness disposition, and its citation to Makaila.
Key Takeaways
- The Intermediate Court of Appeals dismissed Hermanns-Raymond’s appeal as moot after the State submitted a declaration and attached public death report indicating that he died on December 19, 2025, while in custody at Halawa Correctional Facility.
- The court also dismissed all pending motions.
- The order did not address the merits of the Rule 40 petition or the circuit court’s denial of relief.
- The appellant had not filed a statement of jurisdiction or opening brief, but the court’s stated disposition was dismissal as moot, supported by a citation to State v. Makaila.
Why It Matters
The order documents the appellate court’s disposition of a pending Rule 40 appeal following official notice of the self-represented appellant’s reported death in custody. It also records the steps taken before dismissal: unsuccessful mail service, a court-directed custody-and-address declaration, and submission of a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation death report.
Practitioners should not treat this order as a ruling on post-conviction relief or as a broader procedural holding about briefing defaults. Its express rulings are limited to dismissing this appeal as moot and dismissing all pending motions.