ICA affirms speeding conviction

On June 22, 2011, the Hawai’i Intermediate Court of Appeals issued its opinion in State v. Lalonde, No. 30482 (Summary Disposition Order, panel: Nakamura, C.J., Fujise and Reifurth, J.J.) This is an appeal from the District Court of the First Circuit, ‘Ewa Division, the Hon. David W. Lo, presiding. Briefing attorneys were Deputy Public Defender Kainani C. Collins, Esq. for Defendant-Appellant and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Anne C. Clarkin, Esq. for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Defendant was convicted of excessive speeding. Defendant first argued that the trial court erred in denying his discovery requests for numerous items and information concerning laser gun calibration. The trial court ordered that Defendant was to be “able to review and make one copy of certain pages of the ‘Marksman (trainee) manual’ and the ‘LTI Ultralyte operator (user) manual,’” but denied the other requests. The ICA rejected Defendant’s claim of error, noting that Defendant was able to cross-examine State’s witness using the ordered disclosures and Defendant was unable to show the information sought to be obtained in the denied discovery requests was "material" to the accuracy of the laser unit's reading.

Defendant next attacked the admission of the laser readings and the sufficiency of the evidence. The ICA held: “Based on the testimony regarding Officer Frank's training and experience and of his operation of the laser unit, we conclude the district court did not err in admitting the laser unit's reading and in finding [Defendant] guilty of excessive speeding.” Affirmed.