Althouse v. State, 111 Haw. 35

Summary

The Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi affirmed the denial of Raymond Ira Althouse’s request to delay a Hawaiʻi Paroling Authority minimum-term hearing until after expiration of a fifteen-year mandatory minimum sentence. The court held that Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes §§ 706-660.1 and 706-669 required the authority to conduct the hearing within six months of commitment and did not impose a jurisdictional bar based on the mandatory minimum sentence. The court also rejected Althouse’s related request to stay the hearing pending appeal.

Holdings

1. HRS § 706-669 required the Hawaiʻi Paroling Authority to conduct a minimum-term hearing as soon as practicable and no later than six months after the defendant's commitment to the custody of the director of the department of public safety; HRS § 706-660.1 did not jurisdictionally bar that hearing before expiration of the sentencing court's mandatory minimum term.
2. The denial of a stay was not erroneous because it rested on the same statutory argument rejected by the court: HRS § 706-660.1 did not bar the HPA from conducting the minimum-term hearing before expiration of the mandatory minimum term.

Questions Presented

1. Whether HRS § 706-660.1 barred the Hawaiʻi Paroling Authority from conducting a minimum-term hearing under HRS § 706-669 until after expiration of the fifteen-year mandatory minimum sentence imposed by the circuit court.
2. Whether the circuit court erred by denying Althouse's motion to stay the new minimum-term hearing pending appeal.

Disposition

affirmed