State v. Jardine

Opinion of the Court by

WATANABE, J.

Defendant-Appellant Kainoa Jardine (Jar-dine) appeals from the judgment entered on April 20, 2001 by the Family Circuit Court for the First Circuit (the family court), 1 convicting and sentencing him, upon a jury verdict, for abuse of a family or household member, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 709-906 (Supp.2001).

Because we conclude that (1) the family court plainly erred in giving the jury an instruction on the “choice of evils” defense that incorporated common law limitations on the defense that were expressly rejected by the Hawai'i…