“I only had a couple of pina coladas and I lost my
whole (expletive) arm" says Jim Pellegrine…
Jimbo Pellegrine is out on bail and soon to be winging his way
back to California, according to an article in today’s Garden
Island.
Let’s read the most entertaining part of the story:
“It took KPD officer Brad Candido 17 minutes to
decide he was going to get a mandatory blood draw from Pellegrine,
according to his testimony on Tuesday. That’s from the moment
he arrived at the Hanalei substation at 6:32 p.m. to the moment he
left at 6:49 p.m. to escort Pellegrine’s ambulance to Wilcox
Memorial Emergency Room, he testified. Candido testified that,
although he did not know if there was alcohol in the glass,
Pellegrine appeared to be drinking a pina colada at the Hanalei
Dolphin Restaurant. Candido testified that Pellegrine was
advised not to drive the vehicle in its condition because the
airbags had been deployed and the hood of the car was blocking the
windshield. When he arrived at the Hanalei substation, Candido
testified he saw Pellegrine’s car covered in blood and a blood
trail, which he followed. He testified he then heard Pellegrine
shouting, ‘I only had a couple of pina coladas and I lost my whole
(expletive) arm.'”
His lawyer won him a minor victory in his ongoing legal
struggles, successfully suppressing the results of the blood draw
taken without consent or warrant following the accident in December
of 2014 that took Pellegrine’s left arm.
When he arrived at the Hanalei substation, Candido testified he
saw Pellegrine’s car covered in blood and a blood trail, which he
followed. He testified he then heard Pellegrine shouting, ‘I only
had a couple of pina coladas and I lost my whole (expletive)
arm.’
The ruling come in the wake of the 2014 Hawaii Supreme Court
ruling that mandatory blood draws violate our fifth amendment
“right to be free of warrant-less searches and seizures is a
fundamental guarantee of our constitution” and “consent may not be
gained by explicit or implicit coercion, implied threat, or covert
force.”
Of course, a warrant could have been obtained, had the arresting
officer made the effort. However, his explanation amounts to, “I
couldn’t get one in time, even though I didn’t even make an
attempt.”
Furthermore, despite the misquote of Missouri v
McNeely by The Garden
Island, the ruling actually stated that “… the natural
dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not
constitute an exigency in every case sufficient to justify
conducting a blood test without a warrant.” Therefore rendering the
prosecutions claims of exigency totally invalid.
This type of legal fumbling has become par for the course in
Kauai courts following last year’s departure of 8 of 12 deputy
prosecutors over the span of a few months, leading to a rushed
hiring of inexperienced attorneys to fill the vacancies.
Unfortunately for Jimbo, this ruling makes little difference in
his larger case, beyond proving he has a competent attorney.
Hawaii’s DUI laws are notoriously lax, in comparison to places like
California, and are classified as petty misdemeanors carrying no
penalties beyond minor fines and possible license suspension.
The oft repeated mythical explanation for Hawaii’s more or less
inconsequential DUI laws stem from a defendant’s right to a jury
trial when facing misdemeanor charges. Supposedly, prior to the
weakening of DUI penalties, the courts were clogged with DUI cases,
cases in which local juries are typically unwilling to convict.
Because everyone drives drunk out here, it’s a small place,
and no one wants to see their family members go to jail. It’s
always a been a bit mind-boggling to me, but I come from
California, a place with insanely tough penalties, and was well
indoctrinated with the idea that driving wasted is a very bad
thing.
Jimbo’s not out of the woods yet. He still faces felony
terroristic threatening charges due to his ambulance freak out on
the way to the hospital. A freak-out which, according to an
anonymous source, continued into the emergency room where he let
loose on the attending nurses. The nurses declined to press
charges, as dealing with that type of behavior is more or less part
and parcel of working the late night ER.
Jimbo is currently out on $25,000 bail, and will be returning to
the mainland for a few weeks before he returns to court on March
28.
In lighter Kauai court room news, here’s an amusing appearance
by a resident transplant
Kingdom of Atooi activist, Stick Man.
He has a real name, but I don’t know it. Last time I saw the
guy he was shaking that stick at the ocean and chanting nonsense.
More or less a harmless kook, I enjoy the headache he causes for
our local prosecutors ever so much!
Unfortunately for Stick Man, he made a legal miscalculation
last week while trying to place Sara McNamee, the prosecuting
attorney on the left, under citizen’s arrest for unspecified
charges, then blocked her path as she tried to leave.
Which is unlawful imprisonment, and was a very bad idea.