State v. Hamili’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “a DANC plea is unavailable for persons convicted of violating the gill net fishing statute. After conviction, HRS § 188-70(a) provides that the person violating the statute shall be punished by afine or d jail term or both. The use of the verb “shall” signals that this is a mandatory sentencing provision. There is no possible sentence apart from the three alternatives provided by the statute. The sentencing court has discretion in deciding which alternative is appropriate, but the court is limited to the choices provided. Because the sentencing court is limited to the alternatives expressly enumerated in HRS § 188-70, and probation is not an enumerated alternative, the offense for which the sentence is imposed is nonprobationa-ble. Thus, HRS § 853^1(5) which provides that the DANC plea is not applicable where the offense charged is nonprobationable, prohibits the allowance of a DANC plea. [The statute] mandates that a sentence be selected among three alternatives, which do not include probation. Consequently, the [district court] manifestly abused [its] discretion by allowing [the defendants] a DANC plea.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Klie