State Ex Rel. Marsland v. Shintaku

Defendant Charles Stevens was indicted by the first circuit grand jury on May 28, 1980, for the murders of Patricia Stevens and Conrad Maesaka on or about April 6,1978. The March 1981 trial resulted injury verdicts pronouncing Stevens guilty on both murder counts, prompting Stevens to move for a judgment of acquittal or, in the alternative, for a new trial. Despite a prosecution attempt to prevent Judge Shintaku from ruling on the motion, 1 the judge orally granted the judgment of acquittal on September 28, 1981, and articulated his reasons therefor in a lengthy written decision and order…