eBook details
- Title: State v. Rita
- Author : In the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii
- Release Date : January 29, 2004
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 53 KB
Description
The defendant-appellant Roy Rita appeals from the judgment of the fifth circuit court, the Honorable Clifford Nakea presiding, entered on May 1, 2003, convicting him of continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of fourteen years, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 707-733.5 (Supp. 1997). On appeal, Rita contends, inter alia: (1) that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of continuous sexual assault of a minor in violation of HRS § 707-733.5 because evidence of a third incident of "sexual contact" was not adduced at trial; (2) that (a) the term "sexual contact" as defined by HRS § 707-700 (1993) is unconstitutionally vague, insofar as (b) "buttocks" are not "intimate parts," and that (c) the circuit court erred in instructing the jury that "sexual contact" is defined only as "any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person not married to the actor"; (3) that the circuit court erred in failing to instruct the jury as to the elements of sexual assault in the fourth degree, HRS § 707-733(1)(a) (1993), inasmuch as it is a lesser included offense of sexual assault in the third degree, HRS § 707-732(1)(b) (1993); (4) that Ritas trial counsel rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance; and (5) that Ritas conviction runs afoul of this courts decision in State v. Rabago, 103 Hawaii 236, 81 P.3d 1151 (2003), on the bases (a) that Rabago allegedly struck down HRS § 707-733.5 as unconstitutional in its entirety and (b) that the circuit court erred in failing to give the jury a mandatory "specific unanimity instruction," the prosecution, according to Rita, having adduced evidence of more than three acts of sexual assault at trial.