Hawai'i Supreme Court addresses issue of unrequested mistake of fact instruction standard of review

Hello everyone! Legal work has kept me very busy, but I will try to update my blog on a regular basis, focusing on law and issues that concern criminal law in Hawai'i. On August 2, 2013, the Hawai’i Supreme Court issued in its opinion in State v. Taylor, SCWC-30161. In that case, Justice McKenna authored the opinion of the court, holding: “On the issue of how appellate courts are to review the impact of an unrequested mistake of fact jury instruction, denominated as error for the first time on appeal, we clarify and hold that such error is to be reviewed first for plain error. In the case of an unrequested mistake of fact jury instruction, plain error exists if the defendant, at trial, had met his or her initial burden to adduce credible evidence of facts constituting defense (unless those facts are supplied by the prosecution’s witnesses). . . . If the omission of the unrequested mistake of fact jury instruction constitutes plain error, it shall be a basis for reversal of the defendant’s conviction only if an examination of the record as a whole reveals that the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” Ms. Taylor was accused of holding herself out as an attorney and taking and cashing a retainer check for $7,000. The Hawai’i Supreme Court held that Taylor had not presented “credible” evidence that she was so mistaken as to the facts (that she was working for persons she believed were attorneys) as to negate her intent and thus satisfy the “mistake of fact” test. Further, even if there was such evidence, there was “no reasonable possibility that the omission of a mistake of fact instruction contributed to Taylor’s conviction.” Justice Acoba filed a 56 page concurring and dissenting opinion. He notes, “This court has not previously been presented with the exact circumstances of the instant case, namely where a jury instruction as to a defense is unrequested at trial. However, . . . it logically follows that if any evidence is adduced at trial going to a particular defense that is weak, inconclusive, or unsatisfactory, the court must instruct the jury on that defense, even if the defendant does not request such an instruction.” http://www.courts.state.hi.us/docs/opin_ord/sct/2013/August/SCWC-30161.pdf http://www.courts.state.hi.us/docs/opin_ord/sct/2013/August/SCWC-30161con.pdf