Background
A Maui County grand jury indicted Beau Hawkes on two counts of second-degree assault and one count of first-degree terroristic threatening. Hawkes moved to dismiss the indictment based on misconduct by counsel appointed to advise the grand jury.
The Circuit Court of the Second Circuit granted the motion and dismissed the indictment without prejudice. Hawkes appealed, contending that the circuit court failed to analyze whether dismissal should instead have been with prejudice.
The Court’s Holding
The Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed. Under HRS § 612-59, a court may dismiss an indictment without prejudice when grand jury counsel misconduct affected the fairness or impartiality of the proceeding by tending to induce action other than that reasonable grand jurors would have deemed warranted on the evidence fairly presented.
The statute gives a court discretion whether to dismiss at all, depending on the effect of the misconduct, but it does not authorize dismissal with prejudice. The court held that the statutory text, the related remedial provision in HRS § 612-60, and the legislative history all establish that dismissal without prejudice is the exclusive dismissal remedy under HRS § 612-59.
Key Takeaways
- HRS § 612-59 permits dismissal of an indictment for qualifying grand jury counsel misconduct only without prejudice.
- A court may decline to dismiss if the misconduct did not affect the proceeding’s fairness or impartiality.
- The circuit court was not required to consider dismissal with prejudice because that remedy was unavailable under the statute.
Why It Matters
The decision clarifies the remedy for defects involving Hawaii grand jury counsel. A defendant may obtain dismissal when counsel misconduct compromises the grand jury proceeding, but the State may seek a new indictment because the dismissal cannot be with prejudice.
For trial courts, the central inquiry is whether the misconduct affected the fairness and impartiality of the grand jury process—not whether a more permanent dismissal sanction is warranted.