***NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER***
Electronically Filed
Supreme Court
SCWC-30516
03-MAY-2012
08:50 AM
NO. SCWC-30516
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I
________________________________________________________________
STATE OF HAWAI#I, Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
LAWRENCE PAI, Petitioner/Defendant-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
CERTIORARI TO THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS
(ICA NO. 30516; CASE NO. 1DTA-10-00706)
AMENDED SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER1
(By: Recktenwald, C.J., Nakayama, Duffy, and McKenna, JJ.;
with Acoba, J., dissenting)
Petitioner Lawrence Pai (“Pai”) seeks review of the
Intermediate Court of Appeal’s July 14, 2011 Judgment on Appeal,
entered pursuant to its June 14, 2011 Summary Disposition Order,
which affirmed the District Court of the First Circuit’s April 9,
2010 Order and Notice of Entry of Order. The District Court
adjudged Pai guilty of Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of
an Intoxicant, in violation of Hawai#i Revised Statutes (“HRS”)
1
This document was initially inadvertently filed on May 2, 2012.
***NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER***
§ 291E-61(a)(3)(2007).2 We accepted Pai’s application for writ
of certiorari and now affirm the ICA’s Judgment on Appeal.
On certiorari, Pai contends that the ICA gravely erred
in holding that mens rea need not be alleged in an HRS § 291E-
61(a)(3) charge. In State v. Nesmith, we agreed that mens rea
need not be alleged (or proven) in an HRS § 291E-61(a)(3) charge,
as the legislative intent to impose absolute liability for an HRS
§ 291E-61(a)(3) offense plainly appears. State v. Nesmith, ____
Hawai#i ___, ___ P.3d ____ (2012). Therefore, the ICA did not
gravely err in so holding.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the ICA’S Judgment on Appeal
is affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, May 3, 2012.
Timothy I. MacMaster /s/ Mark E. Recktenwald
for petitioner/
defendant-appellant /s/ Paula A. Nakayama
Keith M. Kaneshiro, /s/ James E. Duffy, Jr.
Prosecuting Attorney,
and Anne K. Clarkin, /s/ Sabrina S. McKenna
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney,
for respondent/plaintiff-
appellee
2
HRS § 291E-61(a)(3) provided at the time of the alleged offense, “A
person commits the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an
intoxicant if the person operates or assumes actual physical control of a
vehicle . . . [w]ith .08 or more grams of alcohol per two hundred ten liters
of breath[.]”
2