State v. Sullivan, 97 Haw. 259

Summary

The Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi held that a first-time driving-under-the-influence-of-drugs offense under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes § 291-7 is not constitutionally serious and therefore does not carry a federal or state constitutional right to a jury trial. Applying federal and Hawaiʻi petty-offense analyses, the court concluded that the maximum incarceration period and additional penalties did not overcome the presumption that the offense was petty. The court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Kevin Sullivan’s request for a jury trial.

Holdings

1. A first-time DUI-DRUGS offense under HRS § 291-7 is presumptively petty under the federal constitutional standard because its maximum authorized imprisonment was no more than six months, and the additional statutory penalties were not sufficiently severe to overcome that presumption. The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments therefore do not require a jury trial.
2. A first-time DUI-DRUGS offense under HRS § 291-7 is not constitutionally serious under the Hawaiʻi Constitution, and a defendant charged with that offense has no constitutional right to a jury trial.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a first-time DUI-DRUGS offense under HRS § 291-7 is a constitutionally serious offense requiring a jury trial under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
2. Whether a first-time DUI-DRUGS offense is constitutionally serious and carries a right to a jury trial under article I, section 14 of the Hawaiʻi Constitution.

Disposition

affirmed