Hawaii Supreme Court
State v. Canosa.
January 17, 2023152 Haw. 145
Summary
The court held that the State’s unexplained sixteen-month delay in resentencing violated Canosa’s due process rights because it deprived him of a fundamentally fair sentencing proceeding and a meaningful opportunity for allocution. The court adopted the Barker factors for evaluating due process claims based on delayed sentencing and found that the delay was attributable to government negligence, was not chargeable to Canosa, and substantially prejudiced him. The court vacated the ICA’s judgment, ordered Canosa’s immediate release, and remanded for entry of a time-served sentence.
Holding
- Due process and delayed sentencing. In this specific case, the State’s sixteen-month-and-seventeen-day delay in resentencing violated Canosa’s due process rights under article 1, section 5, of the Hawai‘i Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment because the delay was unreasonable, resulted from government negligence, and materially prejudiced him.
- Right to allocution. The State’s delay deprived Canosa of his constitutional right to allocution because it prevented him from presenting argument and mitigation at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner before expiration of the ordinary maximum term.
Docket SCWC-20-0000650