State v. Kahoonei

MOON, Chief Justice.

We granted a writ of certiorari to petitioner-appellee State of Hawaii (the prosecution) to review the decision of the Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) in State v. Kahoonei, — Hawaii -, 925 P.2d 379 (App.1995) (Kahoonei I). The prosecution contends that the ICA erroneously concluded that certain evidence should have been suppressed because the defendant’s mother was acting as “an agent of the police” when she retrieved the items of evidence. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the decision of the ICA, but on different grounds.

I. BACKGROUND

On August 30,1990, in…