State v. Bato ( 2021 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
Electronically Filed
Intermediate Court of Appeals
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
30-SEP-2021
08:01 AM
Dkt. 99 SO
NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS
OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I
STATE OF HAWAI#I, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.
MARIA ARLENE BATO, Defendant-Appellant
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
(#EWA DIVISION)
(CASE NO. 1DCW-XX-XXXXXXX)
SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Leonard, Presiding Judge, Hiraoka and Nakasone, JJ.)
Defendant-Appellant Maria Arlene Bato (Bato) appeals
from the February 13, 2019 Judgment/Order; Notice of Entry of
Judgment/Order (Judgment) and the September 4, 2019 Order and
Notice of Entry of Order (Order Denying Motion for New Trial),
entered in the District Court of the First Circuit, #Ewa Division
(District Court). Following a bench trial, the District Court
found Bato guilty of Theft in the Fourth Degree (Theft 4), in
violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 708-833(1) (Supp.
2017),1 and denied Bato's post-verdict motion for new trial.
(Motion for New Trial).
1
HRS § 708-833(1) provides: "A person commits the offense of theft
in the fourth degree if the person commits theft of property or services of
any value not in excess of $250."
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
Bato raises five points of error on appeal, contending
that: (1) trial counsel, Deputy Public Defender (DPD) Antoinette
Lilley (Trial Counsel), provided ineffective assistance by not
objecting to or challenging Plaintiff-Appellee State of Hawaii's
(the State's) trial evidence;2 (2) Trial Counsel provided
ineffective assistance by failing to introduce certain
exculpatory evidence at trial; (3) the District Court violated
Bato's rights to equal protection and due process by granting the
State's oral motion to reconsider the order granting her a new
trial (Motion to Reconsider) without two days prior written
notice of the motion;3 (4) the District Court erred in denying
Bato's Motion for New Trial; and (5) no substantial evidence
supports Bato's conviction because the State failed to establish
the value of the item that was allegedly price-switched.
Upon careful review of the record and the briefs
submitted by the parties, and having given due consideration to
the arguments advanced and the issues raised by the parties, we
resolve Bato's points of error as follows:
(1) The Hawai#i Supreme Court has held:
The defendant has the burden of establishing
ineffective assistance of counsel and must meet the
following two-part test: 1) that there were specific errors
or omissions reflecting counsel's lack of skill, judgment,
or diligence; and 2) that such errors or omissions resulted
in either the withdrawal or substantial impairment of a
potentially meritorious defense. To satisfy this second
prong, the defendant needs to show a possible impairment,
rather than a probable impairment, of a potentially
2
Hawai#i Rules of Appellate Procedure Rule 28(a) provides: "If a
brief raises ineffective assistance of counsel as a point of error, the
appellant shall serve a copy of the brief on the attorney alleged to have been
ineffective". Here, Bato failed to serve the opening brief on Trial Counsel.
3
The Honorable Steven Hartley presided over the State's Motion to
Reconsider.
2
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
meritorious defense. A defendant need not prove actual
prejudice.
State v. Wakisaka, 102 Hawai#i 504, 514, 78 P.3d 317, 327 (2003)
(citations, footnote and internal quotation marks omitted).
Here, Bato presents no argument in support of her
assertion that Trial Counsel was ineffective for failing to
object to or ask questions about the State's evidence, and she
fails to identify any potentially meritorious basis for excluding
evidence that Trial Counsel failed to raise. Thus, she fails to
show "specific errors or omissions reflecting counsel's lack of
skill, judgment, or diligence." See id. Accordingly, Bato has
not met her burden of establishing ineffective assistance of
counsel as raised in her first point of error.
(2) On March 1, 2019, Bato filed a Motion for New
Trial through newly retained counsel, arguing, inter alia, that
Trial Counsel failed to present a receipt for the item she was
accused of stealing (the Receipt) as exculpatory evidence in her
defense. A copy of the Receipt was not submitted with the motion
or otherwise put into the record in this case. The District
Court later granted the State's motion to compel production of a
copy of the Receipt. Subsequently, the State argued that the
Receipt was fraudulent, and asserted that that was why it was
never offered into evidence. Yet, even after the withdrawal of
Trial Counsel and substitution of new counsel, and the State's
assertion that the Receipt was fraudulent, the Receipt was still
not offered into evidence by the defense in support of Bato's
argument that counsel was ineffective (or otherwise).
3
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
We note that in State v. Reed, 77 Hawai#i 72, 83-84,
881 P.2d 1218, 1229-30 (1994), overruled on other grounds by
State v. Balanza, 93 Hawai#i 279, 1 P.3d 281 (2000), the
defendant argued that his trial counsel's failure to call several
police officers, who played minor roles in his arrest, impaired
his entrapment defense, arguing that the officers would have
provided favorable testimony. The supreme court rejected this
argument, noting:
Other than his own uncorroborated assertions, Reed
points to no evidence in the record indicating what
the officers would have testified to if called as
witnesses. In the absence of sworn statements from
the police officers verifying that, had they been
called as witnesses at trial, they would have
testified as Reed claims they would, Reed's
characterization of their potential testimony amounts
to nothing more than speculation and, therefore, is
insufficient to meet his burden of proving that his
trial counsel's failure to subpoena the police
officers as witnesses constituted constitutionally
ineffective assistance of counsel.
Id. at 84, 881 P.2d at 1230 (emphasis added).
Here, Bato's failure to produce the Receipt in
conjunction with her Motion for New Trial is fatal to her claim
for reasons similar to those in Reed. Under Hawai#i Rules of
Evidence (HRE) Rule 1002, "[t]o prove the content of a writing,
. . . the original writing . . . is required, except as otherwise
provided in these rules or by statute." Under HRE Rule 1004(1)-
(4), "[t]he original or a duplicate is not required, and other
evidence of the contents of a writing . . . is admissible" only
if the original is lost or destroyed, not obtainable, in the
possession of the opponent, or if the writing is not closely
related to a controlling issue. Bato does not argue that any of
the HRE Rule 1004 exceptions apply; therefore, we conclude that
4
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
the Receipt was required to prove its contents. Because the
Receipt is not in the record, there is no proof of its contents,
and thus no basis for this court to conclude it contains possibly
exculpatory evidence. Accordingly, Bato fails to show how Trial
Counsel's decision to not introduce the Receipt resulted in
either the withdrawal or substantial impairment of a potentially
meritorious defense.
(3) Bato contends she was denied equal protection and
due process because the District Court granted the Motion to
Reconsider without giving her two days' prior written notice.
However, Bato does not cite where in the record she objected to
the District Court's consideration of the State's motion without
two days notice, and her argument provides no analysis regarding
the import of two days notice, particularly as to what evidence
or argument could have been advanced with further notice; nor
does Bato present any supporting analysis for the purported equal
protection and due process claims. Rather, her argument
maintains that the District Court's stated reasons for granting
reconsideration are "insufficient" to deny her due process right
to a new trial, and that the District Court was "treating this
. . . case so special, but only for the prosecution."
The record indicates that the District Court (Judge
Hartley) granted reconsideration after deciding that Judge Iha,
who conducted the bench trial, should have heard the Motion for
New Trial, and noting further that Bato's new counsel failed to
notify the prosecutor who tried the case of the motion. Judge
Hartley's primary reason for granting reconsideration is
5
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
consistent with and in furtherance of principles of judicial
restraint, and therefore supports a conclusion that the District
Court did not abuse its discretion.
[A] judge should generally be hesitant to modify,
vacate or overrule a prior interlocutory order of
another judge who sits in the same court. Judicial
restraint in this situation stems from considerations
of courtesy and comity in a court with multiple
judges, where each judge has equal and concurrent
jurisdiction.
The normal hesitancy that a court would have in
modifying its own prior rulings is even greater when a
judge is asked to vacate the order of a brother or
sister judge. The general rule which requires
adherence to a prior interlocutory order of another
judge of the same court thus commands even greater
respect than the doctrine of "law of the case," which
refers to the usual practice of courts to refuse to
disturb all prior rulings in a particular case,
including rulings made by the judge himself or
herself.
Unless cogent reasons support the second court's
action, any modification of a prior ruling of another
court of equal and concurrent jurisdiction will be
deemed an abuse of discretion.
State v. Oughterson, 99 Hawai#i 244, 253, 54 P.3d 415, 424 (2002)
(citations and brackets omitted; emphasis added). Under the
above principles, Judge Hartley should have been hesitant to
vacate Judge Iha's conviction and grant Bato a new trial.
Because the result of the reconsideration order was only to re-
set the motion for hearing before Judge Iha, Judge Hartley
exercised his discretion in accordance with the established
principle of judicial restraint. Thus, he did not "clearly
exceed[] the bounds of reason or disregard[] rules or principles
of law or practice." See generally State v. Hicks, 113 Hawai#i
60, 69, 148 P.3d 493, 502 (2006) (citations omitted).
Therefore, we conclude that the District Court (Judge
Hartley) did not abuse its discretion in granting reconsideration
of its ruling on Bato's Motion for New Trial.
6
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
(4) Bato argues that the District Court (Judge Iha)
abused its discretion in denying Bato's Motion for New Trial
because the denial of the motion prevented her from presenting
the Receipt as evidence in her defense, thus denying her due
process. Specifically, Bato argues that the District Court erred
in accepting the State's argument that the "[R]eceipts" were
"deficient in some manner" despite Bato's assertion that she
"could authenticate and identify the [R]eceipt."4
Under the Hawai#i Rules of Penal Procedure (HRPP) Rule
33, "[t]he court on motion of a defendant may grant a new trial
to the defendant if required in the interest of justice."
HRPP Rule 33, which is modeled after Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure (FRCP) Rule 33 . . . . According to
Professor Wright, Rule 33 "recognizes the traditional
principle that the trial court has broad powers to
grant a new trial if for any reason it concludes that
the trial has resulted in a miscarriage of justice."
3 C. Wright, Federal Practice & Procedure: Criminal 2d
§ 551 at 236–37 (1982). Despite this broad authority,
however, "motions [for new trials] are not favored and
new trials are to be granted with caution." Id. at
237.
State v. Matyas, 10 Haw. App. 31, 37, 859 P.2d 1380, 1383 (1993).
The District Court's reasoning for denying the Motion
for New Trial was not that it relied upon or accepted the State's
argument that the Receipt was fraudulent; rather, the court noted
that the Receipt was not newly discovered evidence. In State v.
McNulty, 60 Haw. 259, 267–68, 588 P.2d 438, 445 (1978), overruled
on other grounds by Raines v. State, 79 Hawai#i 219, 900 P.2d
1286 (1995), the supreme court held that a trial court may grant
a new trial based on newly discovered evidence under certain
4
Though apparently referring to the same (unsubmitted) evidence,
Bato interchangeably refers to a "Receipt" in the singular and "Receipts" in
the plural throughout her opening brief.
7
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
conditions. However, Bato does not argue that the Receipt is new
evidence.
Bato fails to provide any authority supporting her
broad contention on appeal that the District Court should have
granted a new trial based on evidence that was available, but not
presented, at trial. The gravamen of Bato's argument at the
hearing on the Motion for New Trial was ineffective assistance of
counsel, but Bato failed to offer the Receipt into evidence or
otherwise support her assertion that Trial Counsel was
ineffective for having failed to offer the Receipt as evidence at
trial. Thus, we reject Bato's argument that the District Court
abused its discretion in denying the Motion for New Trial.
(5) Bato argues that the District Court erred in not
granting her motions for acquittal and for dismissal5 because the
State failed to present evidence of the price of the "item
allegedly price switched," and therefore the State failed to
prove an element of the offense. The State argues that
substantial evidence supports the conviction because Chelsey
Takahashi (Takahashi), an asset protection associate for Walmart,
credibly testified that the Box of Slime allegedly price-swapped
by Bato cost $20.80.6
"[E]ven if it could be said in a bench trial that the
conviction is against the weight of the evidence, as long as
5
Although Bato moved for judgment of acquittal at the close of the
State's case and again at the close of her own case, it does not appear that
she moved for dismissal at any time.
6
Price-swapping involves removing a price tag from an item and then
applying a different price tag, which was removed from a lower priced item.
8
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
there is substantial evidence to support the requisite findings
for conviction, the trial court will be affirmed." State v.
Matavale, 115 Hawai#i 149, 158, 166 P.3d 322, 331 (2007)
(citation omitted). "[A]s trier of fact, the trial judge is free
to make all reasonable and rational inferences under the facts in
evidence, including circumstantial evidence." Id. "An appellate
court will not pass upon the trial judge's decisions with respect
to the credibility of witnesses and the weight of the evidence,
because this is the province of the trial judge." State v.
Eastman, 81 Hawai#i 131, 139, 913 P.2d 57, 65 (1996) (citations
omitted).
"A person commits the offense of [Theft 4] if the
person commits theft of property or services of any value not in
excess of $250." HRS § 708-833(1). Takahashi testified as
follows regarding the values of a Box of Slime and a particular
headband:
[The prosecutor] The two items that were admitted into
evidence as Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2, um -- does the store
Walmart Pearl City carry those items?
[Takahashi] Yes.
Q And how do you know that?
A Um -- I seen her select it off of our shelf and, um --
after it was recovered from her, um -- in the booking
office, it was taken to the register and it was scanned and
it, um -- it scanned at our register.
Q Okay. So at that time you were also able to . . .
establish the value of these items?
A Yes.
Q Okay. And also establish the fact that she failed to pay
for one of the items?
A Yes.
Q Does anyone have authorization to permit a person to take
items from the store without paying for them?
9
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
A No.
Q Did the defendant have permission to take items from the
store without paying for them?
A No.
Q Did the defendant have permission to switch the tags --
A No.
Q -- and pay for a lesser price item?
. . . .
Q . . . We discussed how you established the value of the
items stolen, correct?
A Uh-huh.
Q And that's because you went to the register and rang them
up, correct?
A Yes.
Q On that day, was the total $20.80?
A Yes.
(Emphasis added).
Takahashi also testified that Bato "paid the cheaper
price of the slime" and "exited the store with the more expensive
slime."
Contrary to the State's argument, the above testimony
indicates only that the Box of Slime and the headband, together,
were valued at $20.80. Nonetheless, because Takahashi testified
that Bato "paid the cheaper price of the slime" and "exited the
store with the more expensive slime," along with reasonable
inferences from the testimony concerning the total price of the
items, this testimony is sufficient for a trier of fact to find
that Bato paid less than the full value of the Box of Slime.
Moreover, Takahashi also testified that Bato "failed to pay for
one of the items" she took from the store. This is also evidence
supporting a finding that Bato took an item of "any value"
10
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER
without paying. Because a Theft 4 charge requires the State to
prove only that the defendant stole an item of "any value,"
Takahashi's testimony is substantial evidence to support the
conviction. See Matavale, 115 Hawai#i at 157-58, 166 P.3d at
330-31. Thus, Bato's final point of error lacks merit.
For these reasons, the District Court's February 13,
2019 Judgment and September 4, 2019 Order Denying Motion for New
Trial are affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, September 30, 2021.
On the briefs:
/s/ Katherine G. Leonard
Andre' S. Wooten, Presiding Judge
for Defendant-Appellant.
/s/ Keith K. Hiraoka
Donn Fudo, Associate Judge
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney,
City and County of Honolulu, /s/ Karen T. Nakasone
for Plaintiff-Appellee. Associate Judge
11