State v. Kanoa

── State v. Kanoa ── Court: Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals Date: May 08, 2026 Category: General NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAIʻI REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER Electronically Filed Intermediate Court of Appeals CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX 08-MAY-2026 07:55 AM Dkt. 70 SO NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF HAWAI‘I STATE OF HAWAI‘I, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. OSCAR KANOA, Defendant-Appellant APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT (CASE NO. 1CPC-XX-XXXXXXX) SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER (By: Wadsworth, Presiding Judge, McCullen and Gluck, JJ.) Defendant-Appellant Oscar Kanoa (Kanoa) appeals from the June 18, 2025 "Findings of Fact [(FOFs)], Conclusions of Law [(COLs)], and Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendant Oscar Kanoa's Motion to Reduce Bail" (Order) entered by the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (Circuit Court). 1 In his Motion to Reduce Bail (Motion), Kanoa asked for bail to be reduced from $2,000,000.00 to $100,000.00; the Circuit Court granted the Motion in part, reducing bail to $750,000.00. On 1 The Honorable Rowena A. Somerville presided.  NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAIʻI REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER appeal, Kanoa contends the Circuit Court erred in setting bail at an unaffordable amount in violation of Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes (HRS) § 804-9 (Supp. 2019). Upon careful review of the record and the briefs submitted by the parties, and having given due consideration to the issues raised and the arguments advanced, we resolve this appeal as discussed below and affirm. In opposing Kanoa's Motion in Circuit Court, Plaintiff-Appellee State of Hawaiʻi (State) argued that Kanoa was the sole owner of a home valued at $666,400.00. 2 Kanoa did not dispute that he owned a home. At the hearing on the Motion, Kanoa was uncertain as to the value of (and his equity in) the home, but he offered to surrender the deed in lieu of bail. As an alternative, Kanoa requested bail in the amount of $200,000.00. After hearing the parties' arguments, the Circuit Court ruled: [A]s you have all pointed out, I need to consider pursuant to State versus Carter [and HRS §] 804-9. And the amount of bail rests in the discretion of the trial court and shall be set in a reasonable amount based upon all available information, including the offense alleged, which is Manslaughter, an A felony, the possible punishment upon conviction, which is 20 years, and [Kanoa]'s financial ability to afford bail. And the bail amount should be determined as not to suffer the wealthy to escape by the payment of the pecuniary penalty nor to render the privilege useless to the poor. I have taken into all of the considerations of [HRS §] 804-9. This is not a no bail situation. Bail has been set in this case. So based on all of those considerations and my determination that [Kanoa] does have assets that could be used for his release, I will grant the Defense motion. However, it will [not be] $100,000. But it will be up to $750,000. Grant that in part. 2 The State based this valuation on the publicly available tax assessment of the property, as listed on the website for the City and County of Honolulu's Real Property Assessment Division. 2  NOT FO