State v. Kealaiki

In State v. Kealaiki, 95 Hawai'i 309, 22 P.3d 588 (2001), the supreme court acknowledged, even if it had no appellate jurisdiction, that it could, in its discretion, assert supervisory jurisdiction over the trial courts under HRS 602-4 (1993) "to prevent and correct errors and abuses therein where no other remedy is expressly provided for by law." 95 Hawai'i at 317, 22 P.3d at 596. The Court, however, does not have the same supervisory jurisdiction over the trial courts that the supreme court has under HRS 602-4. HRS 602-4 (1993) provides that "the supreme court shall have the general superintendence of all courts of inferior jurisdiction to prevent and correct errors and abuses therein where no other remedy is expressly provided by law." The Hawai'i Supreme Court held that under HRS 641-11, "the sentence of the court in a criminal case" is "the judgment" from which an appeal is authorized. Because "there is no 'conviction' when the acceptance of a plea is deferred," an order granting "a DANC plea such as the one issued here is not a conviction nor is it a sentence. There having been no conviction and sentence in this case, there can be no appeal under HRS 641-11 from the March 28, 2000 order granting Defendant's plea deferral. The supreme court further stated: HRS 853-1 sets three preconditions to the court's consideration of granting a . . . DANC plea, one of which is that the defendant "voluntarily plead . . . nolo contendere."