State v. Sua

Opinion of the Court by

ACOBA, J.

We hold that receipt of a witness’s grand jury testimony under the past recollection recorded exception to the rule against hearsay at the criminal trial of Defendant-Appellant Alomalietoa Sua (Defendant) violated the right of confrontation guaranteed him by the Hawaii Constitution. We conclude the witness’s grand jury testimony was not imbued with such indicia of reliability as would comport with the substance of the protections afforded under that guarantee. Under such circumstances, we determine that the resulting error was not harmless beyond a reasonable…