Woman’s felony charges dismissed due to recent Obrero ruling

She has been accused of ramming neighbor’s car while children were inside

WAILUKU — A recent Hawaii Supreme Court ruling led a 2nd Circuit Court judge to dismiss a case Thursday against a Makawao woman who was facing felony charges for allegedly threatening her neighbor and repeatedly ramming the neighbor’s car while two children were in the vehicle last year.

Alyson Herfert, 45, was charged with first-degree criminal property damage, first-degree terroristic threatening, second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and fourth-degree criminal property damage.

After neighbors testified at a preliminary hearing July 8, 2021, in Wailuku District Court, a judge upheld the felony charges. Later that month, Herfert was arraigned in 2nd Circuit Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In arguing for the case to be dismissed Thursday, Deputy Public Defender Tyler Stevenson cited the state Supreme Court ruling that a grand jury indictment for serious felony charges is required before a defendant can be arraigned in Circuit Court.

“This is a question of law,” Stevenson said.

The high court opinion was filed Sept. 8 in the case of State v. Richard Obrero, who was arrested in 2019 after the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy outside Obrero’s home in Kalihi on Oahu.

After a grand jury found there wasn’t probable cause to indict Obrero, the prosecution filed a complaint and presented evidence at a preliminary hearing. There, a judge ruled there was enough evidence to support charges against Obrero of second-degree murder, attempted first- and second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

In a 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court agreed with Obrero that the prosecution violated state law requiring an indictment or information filing before a defendant can be arraigned in Circuit Court.

Prosecutors statewide had been using preliminary hearings as one way to charge defendants for 40 years, following a constitutional amendment ratified by voters in 1982.

Since the ruling, the Maui County prosecutor’s office has worked with the Judiciary to increase the frequency of grand jury sessions to once a week, up from about two a month, to seek indictments in serious cases that were charged by preliminary hearing. Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin said about 50 cases have been affected by the ruling. They include ones charging defendants with murder, attempted murder, robbery, sexual assaults and serious drug offenses.

In Herfert’s case, the criminal property damage charge could be brought by felony information filing, which involves a judge reviewing written documents to support charges. But the terroristic threatening charge requires an indictment.

Stevenson asked for the case to be dismissed with prejudice so Herfert couldn’t be recharged, citing the time that had passed since her arrest May 15, 2021.

Herfert has been free after posting $2,000 bail in the case.

Deputy Prosecutor J.W. Hupp asked for the case to be dismissed without prejudice and said in a memorandum that the prosecution intends to seek an indictment to charge the case again.

Hupp said Herfert had an argument with her neighbor and “repeatedly rammed the neighbor’s car” while children were in the car.

“It’s on video,” he said. Herfert also allegedly threatened the neighbor with a metal pipe, according to the complaint.

Judge Peter Cahill dismissed the case without prejudice.

“It’s up to the state whether they want to recharge it and the method by which they would do that,” he said.

He said it was the first such case he has handled since the Obrero ruling.

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