State of Hawaiʻi v. Christopher M. Keliiheleua

Summary

The Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaiʻi affirmed an order denying in part Christopher M. Keliiheleua’s motion to dismiss indictment counts for lack of probable cause. The court held that the grand-jury evidence supported a strong suspicion that Keliiheleua knowingly subjected a mentally defective person to sexual penetration, and that the challenged findings and conclusions were not clearly erroneous.

Holdings

1. A grand jury indictment must be supported by probable cause, meaning facts that would lead a person of ordinary caution or prudence to believe and conscientiously entertain a strong suspicion of the accused's guilt. The evidence need not be sufficient to prove guilt at trial, and legitimate inferences must be drawn in favor of the indictment without substituting judicial judgment for the grand jury's assessment of evidentiary weight.
2. The grand-jury testimony provided sufficient evidence for a person of ordinary caution or prudence to entertain a strong suspicion that Keliiheleua inserted his finger into the complaining witness's genital opening. The circuit court's findings and mixed findings and conclusions supporting probable cause were not clearly erroneous.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the circuit court clearly erred in finding that the complaining witness testified that Keliiheleua touched her vagina and that it became sore.
2. Whether the circuit court correctly applied the probable-cause standard for a grand jury indictment.
3. Whether the evidence before the grand jury supported probable cause that Keliiheleua inserted his finger into the complaining witness's genital opening as charged in Count I.

Disposition

affirmed