State v. Yamada

Opinion of the Court by

RECKTENWALD, C.J.

In the early morning hours of February 14, 2003, Nicholas Harukichi Kaneta (Kane-ta) and his friend, Quinton Yoza (Yoza), were robbed and severely beaten at the Diamond Head lookout by two male assailants, one of whom wielded a baseball bat. Five weeks later, on March 21, 2003, Defendant-Appellant Kaleokalani Yamada (Yamada or Defendant) was arrested by police at the University of Hawaii (U.H.) shortly after he and an unknown accomplice used a baseball bat to rob two tourists in the parking lot of the Honolulu Zoo. Police used photographs taken of…