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***FOR PUBLICATION***

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I ---o0o---

STATE OF HAWAI#I, Respondent/Plaintiff-Appellant vs. REYNALDO CUNTAPAY, Petitioner/Defendant-Appellee

NO.

24841

CERTIORARI TO THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS (CR. NO. 01-1-0301) MARCH 5, 2004 LEVINSON, ACOBA, AND DUFFY, JJ.; AND NAKAYAMA, J., DISSENTING, WITH WHOM MOON, C.J., JOINS OPINION OF THE COURT BY ACOBA, J. We granted certiorari herein and hold that under Article I, section 7 of the Hawai#i Constitution,1 a guest of a homedweller is entitled to a right of privacy while in his or her

1

Article I, section 7 states as follows: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches, seizures and invasions of privacy shall not be violated; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized or the communications sought to be intercepted.

***FOR PUBLICATION***

host's home.

Under the circumstances of this case,

Petitioner/Defendant-Appellee Reynaldo Cuntapay (Petitioner) had such a right. Insofar as a majority of the Intermediate Court of

Appeals (the ICA) held on appeal that Petitioner had not demonstrated he had an expectation of such privacy and that such expectation was reasonable, it was incorrect. Thus, we reverse

the Summary Disposition Order (SDO) of the ICA2 filed on September 15, 2003, vacating the order of the second circuit court (the court)3 granting Petitioner's motion to suppress evidence recovered from his host's home. We affirm the court's

order but on independent state constitutional grounds discussed herein, rather than on Fourth Amendment grounds cited by the court.

I. Petitioner was charged in a June 15, 2001 complaint with promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree, Hawai#i Revised Statutes (HRS)

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