State v. Tau'a

Opinion of the Court by

LEVINSON, J.

The plaintiff-appellant State of Hawai'i (the prosecution) appeals from an order of the second circuit court, the Honorable Shackley F. Raffetto presiding, granting the defendant-appellee Murphy Tau'a’s motion to suppress (1) evidence that Maui Police Department (MPD) officers seized in executing a search warrant upon a vehicle in which Tau'a had been a passenger and (2) a written statement that Tau'a subsequently gave to the police.2 On appeal, the prosecution principally contends that the circuit court clearly erred in connection with three of its findings…