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Hawaii Revised Statutes

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 806-56 (2025)

  Nolle prosequi

✓ laws through the 2025 session: the 2026 session is not included
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DISMISSAL

 

     §806-56  Nolle prosequi.  No nolle prosequi shall be entered in a criminal case in a court of record except by consent of the court upon written motion of the prosecuting attorney stating the reasons therefor.  The court may deny the motion if it deems the reasons insufficient and if, upon further investigation, it decides that the prosecution should continue, it may, if in its opinion the interests of justice require it, appoint a special prosecutor to conduct the case and allow the special prosecutor a fee.  Section 802-5(b) relative to fees allowed counsel assigned by the court for a defendant is made applicable to fees of special prosecutors appointed hereunder. [L 1876, c 40, §5; am L 1903, c 39, §6; RL 1925, §4029; am L 1931, c 73, §1; RL 1935, §5525; RL 1945, §10830; RL 1955, §258-40; HRS §711-56; ren L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1987, c 283, §67]

 

Rules of Court

 

  Dismissal by prosecutor, see HRPP rule 48(a).

 

Case Notes

 

  A nolle prosequi of an appeal from a magistrate before trial is no bar to a subsequent trial.  3 H. 339 (1872).

  For historical background:  6 H. 718 (1889).

 

 

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1987–2026 · leading case: State v. Quitog, 938 P.2d 559 (Haw. 1997).
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State v. Quitog, 938 P.2d 559 (Haw. 1997). · cites it 2× “HRS § 806-56 (1993), the progenitor of which was enacted in 1876, provides: Nolle prosequi.”
Iaea v. Heely, 743 P.2d 456 (Haw. 1987). · cites it 2× “That practice is embodied in HRS § 806-56, which reads: Nolle prosequi.”
State v. Estrada, 787 P.2d 692 (Haw. 1990). · cites it 4× “HRS § 806-56 requires that such motions be in writing, and that they state the reasons therefor.”
State v. Olive, 569 P.3d 476 (Haw. App. 2025). · cites it 2× “3 HRS § 806-56 (2014), entitled "Nolle prosequi," provides: "No nolle prosequi shall be entered in a criminal case .”
State v. Gutierrez (N.M. Ct. App. 2026). “, Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 806-56 (West 1987) (“No nolle prosequi shall be entered in a criminal case .”
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