No 28838 (April 29, 2009)
Opinion pdf
OPINION OF THE COURT BY NAKAYAMA, J.
Defendant-Appellant-Petitioner Michael Woodfall ("Woodfall") petitions this court to review the Intermediate Court of Appeals' ("ICA's") November 18, 2008 judgment affirming the October 10, 2007 judgment of the first circuit court ("circuit court"), convicting Woodfall of the offenses of identity theft in the second degree, in violation of Hawai'i Revised Statutes ("HRS") § 708-839.7 (Supp. 2006), forgery in the second degree in violation of HRS § 708-852 (Supp. 2006), and attempted theft in the second degree, in violation of HRS § 708-500 (1993) and HRS § 708-831(1)(b) (Supp. 2006). We accepted Woodfall's application for a writ of certiorari, and oral argument was held on March 19, 2008.
Woodfall asserts that the ICA gravely erred by affirming the circuit court's judgment of conviction, inasmuch as the HRS § 708-839.7 phrase "transmission of any personal information of another" prohibits the "transmission of any personal information" of an actual person, and he transmitted information associated with a fictitious person.
Because HRS § 708-839.7 is susceptible to two interpretations, we construe the statute under the rule of lenity and in favor of Woodfall. Accordingly, we vacate the lower court's judgment and order and remand the case to the circuit court for re-sentencing. [footnotes omitted]