Hawaii v. DeCastro
Intermediate Court of Appeals of Hawaii
913 P.2d 558 (1996)
Robert DeCastro (defendant), after pulling over near a traffic stop conducted by Officer Rodrigues to record the license plate, was told by Rodrigues to wait in his van while Rodrigues checked his license; DeCastro instead called 911, reported that Rodrigues was harassing him, and was told by the operator he could leave and should call back once he returned to his warehouse. When DeCastro drove off, Rodrigues and other officers gave chase until he finally stopped. DeCastro was convicted of resisting an order to stop, arguing at trial that he reasonably believed the 911 operator had given him legal authorization to leave.
Whether reasonable reliance on a 911 operator's mistaken statement about the law can support a mistake-of-law defense under Hawaii's limited exception for official misstatements of law.