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NO. 22516

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I STATE OF HAWAI#I, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. BENJAMIN WHITFIELD, Defendant-Appellant APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT (FC-CRIMINAL NO. 98-2535) MEMORANDUM OPINION (By: Burns, C.J. Watanabe and Lim, JJ.) Defendant-Appellant Benjamin T. Whitfield (Defendant) appeals the April 26, 1999 judgment of the first circuit court, that convicted him, upon a jury verdict, of one of two counts of the offense of violation of an order for protection, and sentenced him to one year of imprisonment. Defendant presents the following two issues on appeal: (1) Defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion by conditioning the admission of evidence, which he intended to introduce to show a complaining witness's bias, on the subsequent admission of allegations by the complaining witness that Defendant had previously assaulted her son. (2) Defendant also

complains that the court abused its discretion in denying the two motions for mistrial he made because both complaining witnesses testified that he had previously hit one of them. -1-

We disagree with Defendant's contentions and affirm the judgment of the court.

I.

BACKGROUND.

On September 29, 1998, Defendant was charged with two counts of violation of an order for protection, in violation of Hawai#i Revised Statutes (HRS)

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Hawaii Law