State v. Lawrence

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

NAKAMURA, C.J.

Plaintiff-Appellee State of Hawaii (State) charged Defendant-Appellant Michael Robert Lawrence (Lawrence) with the second-degree murder of Melchor Talaro Tabag (Ta-bag). Lawrence killed Tabag, a vacuum cleaner salesperson who had been demonstrating products at Lawrence’s home, by striking Tabag in the head with a hammer and stabbing him in the neck and chest. Lawrence subsequently dismembered Ta-bag’s body. In 2002, after a jury-waived bench trial, the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (Circuit Court)1 found Lawrence not guilty of second-degree murder by…