Honolulu Prosecutor bills pass the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee

On Tuesday, January 31, 2012, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith M. Kaneshiro testified before the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee in support of our Honolulu Prosecutor Bills: House Bill 238, House Draft 2 – Enhanced penalties for a person who violates a temporary restraining order and has a prior conviction of a violent crime; House Bill 245, House Draft 1 – Increases per diem payments for of out-of-state and neighbor island witnesses; Senate Bill 2058 –  Amends section 806-83, HRS, to add the following felonies for which criminal charges may be instituted by written information: section 708-803 (habitual property crime), section 708-812.55 (unauthorized entry in a dwelling in the first degree), section 708-812.6 (unauthorized entry in a dwelling in the second degree), and section 708-835.7 (theft of copper); Senate Bill 2060 – Adds a new section to chapter 571, HRS, to allow family courts to require the accused to transport a witness or witnesses, including a complaining witness or witnesses when the accused has sole physical or legal custody of the witness or witnesses; Senate Bill 2061 – Codifies dismissals pursuant to Rule 48, Hawaii rules of penal procedure and exempts cases for abuse of family or household members charges from the dismissal rule. (The case law for the  constitutional right of “speedy trial” still applies); Senate Bill 2062 – This bill amends section 703-309, HRS that allows a parent or guardian to use justifiable force on a minor if it is not designed to cause or known to create a risk of causing substantial bodily injury, disfigurement, extreme pain or mental distress, or neurological damage.  With this bill, the following types of force shall be unjustifiable where it is likely to cause bodily harm greater than transient pain or minor temporary marks:  throwing, kicking, burning, biting, cutting, striking with a closed fist, shaking a minor under three years of age, striking or other actions that result in any non-accidental injury to a minor less than eighteen months of age, interfering with breathing, threatening with a deadly weapon, or striking on the face.