State v. Trainor

LEVINSON, Justice.

The plaintiff-appellant State of Hawaii (prosecution) appeals from the circuit court’s July 7, 1993 order granting the defendant-appellee John Raymond Trainor’s motion to suppress evidence. The prosecution grounds its appeal in two alternative arguments: (1) that the evidence at issue was not the fruit of an unlawful “walk and talk,” but was a constitutional investigative encounter based upon reasonable suspicion; and (2) that the encounter resulting in the discovery of the evidence was consensual. Because we hold that Trainor was subjected to an unconstitutional seizure,…