State v. Rauch12/6/2000
The defendant-appellant Lovisa Rauch appeals from the first circuit court's amended judgment of conviction of and sentence for the offense of reckless manslaughter, in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 707-702 (1993 & Supp. 1999), filed on September 22, 1999. Rauch's points of error on appeal are: (1) that the family court of the first circuit erred in waiving jurisdiction over her because it (a) misconstrued HRS § 571-22(d) (1993 & Supp. 1998) to mandate waiver and (b) violated principles of double jeopardy; and (2) that the first circuit court erred in sentencing her because it (a) did not apply time served credit for house arrest presentence detention, pursuant to HRS § 706-623(2) (1993), see infra section III.B.1, and (b) did not make sufficient findings under HRS § 706-606(2) (1993), see infra section III.B.2, to support incarceration. Finding no merit in Rauch's points of error, we affirm her conviction and sentence.
I. BACKGROUND
On August 17, 1998, Rauch was accused by petition filed in family court of committing an act that, if committed by an adult, would constitute second degree murder, in violation of HRS §§ 707-701.5 (1993) and 706-656 (1993 & Supp. 1999). After conducting a hearing on the petition, the family court waived jurisdiction over Rauch and bound her over to be tried as an adult in the first circuit court. Rauch was indicted on October 20, 1998. She subsequently pled no contest to reckless manslaughter, see supra note 1, and was sentenced to probation for a term of ten years, subject to the special condition, inter alia, of one year of incarceration.
Just over a month shy of her seventeenth birthday, Rauch, on August 13, 1998, was involved in an altercation between her family and their neighbors, the Alameida family. Her family had recently moved into the neighborhood. Her father, Perry Rauch, was a commercial fisherman. The Alameida family were apparently displeased with the increase in vehicular traffic in the neighborhood, which they attributed to Perry's fishery.
On August 13, 1998, Perry delivered some fish to a neighbor, and, while at the neighbor's house, complained about someone who had painted on the gate to his property. Clayton Alameida, who was also at the neighbor's house, overheard Perry's complaints, became verbally abusive, told Perry to leave, and challenged him to fisticuffs. Clayton was intoxicated at the time, but to what degree remains uncertain. Perry used the neighbor's telephone, called his wife, and requested her to bring him a baseball bat. She did so, opting to drive over in their automobile. Once there, Clayton assaulted her, knocking her to the ground at least twice. Rauch, who had walked over to the neighbor's house, observed Clayton's assault on her mother. Both families continued to taunt and threaten each other as the Rauches retreated to their own property. The Alameida family, however, followed them.
On the Rauches' property, Clayton continued to taunt Perry, chasing him around (although Perry still held the bat), and, apparently, wielding or throwing iron bars at him. At some point, Rauch left the front lawn in search of her father's .22 caliber rifle, which she eventually found in his boat. Rauch returned and attempted to dissuade Clayton from continuing his attack on her parents by aiming the rifle at him. The rifle discharged. Clayton's grandmother, Julia Alameida, who was sixty-two years old at the time, was struck in the forehead by the bullet and died as a result.
Rauch and the prosecution stipulated to the following facts at the hearing conducted with regard to the prosecution's waiver petition:
One, the minor, Lovisa Rauch, was born on
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