State v. Kalani

Summary

The Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi affirmed Ronald Kalani’s convictions for two counts of third-degree sexual assault. The court held that forcibly placing the tongue into a nine-year-old child’s mouth constituted sexual contact involving an intimate part under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes § 707-700. The court also rejected Kalani’s challenges based on statutory vagueness and the rule of lenity.

Holdings

1. Contact with the interior of the mouth constitutes touching of an intimate part under HRS § 707-700's definition of sexual contact.
2. The circuit court properly denied the motion to dismiss because the evidence before the grand jury established probable cause that Kalani violated HRS § 707-732.
3. The circuit court properly denied the motion for judgment of acquittal.
4. HRS § 707-700 is not unconstitutionally vague as applied to forcibly placing an adult's tongue inside a nine-year-old child's mouth during nonconsensual kissing.
5. The rule of lenity did not apply because the term intimate parts in HRS § 707-700 was not ambiguous as applied to the interior of the mouth.

Questions Presented

1. Whether inserting one's tongue into the mouth of a child while kissing constitutes touching of an intimate part and therefore sexual contact under HRS § 707-700.
2. Whether the indictment should have been dismissed for insufficient evidence to establish probable cause.
3. Whether the circuit court erred in denying the motion for judgment of acquittal.
4. Whether HRS § 707-700 is unconstitutionally vague as applied to the charged conduct.
5. Whether the rule of lenity required vacatur of Kalani's convictions and sentences.

Disposition

affirmed