15-03-2025
Slap on the wrist? No jail time for Hawaii fireworks offenders
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Is it a step in the right direction or a slap on the wrist?
That is the question after two men pled no contest relating to illegal fireworks charges and received no jail time. Some told KHON2 that it sends the wrong message after a deadly New Year's Day on Oahu.
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The Department of the Attorney General said Wolfgang Clark and Daniel Young were accused of selling illegal fireworks in 2024. The AG's office said both men were recently granted a deferred plea despite the state's objection.
The men will receive four years of court supervision, a $5,000 fine and no jail time.
'The biggest term that usually happens during this period is that they can't commit another crime and they certainly can't commit the same crime again during this time. If they do, then this deferral goes away and it automatically becomes a conviction,' said legal expert Doug Chin.
The case involving Clark and Young occurred before the .
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A former judge said courts have given the accused a chance to expunge the charges from their record if they stay out of trouble for their court supervision period by deferring a conviction.
'So what's the consequences now by giving a deferral? At the end of the four year period, it gets wiped out,' said former judge Randal Lee. 'Like if it never happened.'
Lawmakers said current legislation increases penalties that would have impacted this case if they had been law.
Hawaii only has two illegal fireworks investigators
'My feeling is that if we're going to get a handle on it, the penalties are going to have to be a little harsher because typically, the real deterrent is thinking you're going to get caught,' said Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Karl Rhoads.
Rhoads pointed out that illegal fireworks cases have rarely even made it to prosecution in Hawaii in the past, and he is a little disappointed in the light punishment but said the process itself is a step in the right direction.
'Whether you spend any time in jail, having to pay a fine and having to be monitored for I think it was four years, that does not do you any good,' Sen. Rhoads said.
'It moved in the right direction, but then by granting a deferral is basically saying it never happened,' Lee said. 'It's kind of like getting into the concert, but then you can't hear anything.'
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