New trial is ordered
for inmate

A man convicted of first-degree attempted murder for shooting a police officer at Makapuu Point in 1998 will be tried a second time.

The Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that Peter Moses was denied effective representation by his deputy public defender, and sent his case back to Circuit Court for a new trial.

In 2003 the Hawaii Supreme Court reversed Moses' conviction but ordered the lower court to hold a hearing to determine whether his toxicology reports were indeed produced by his attorney to prosecutors and whether he voluntarily disclosed those reports.

Circuit Judge Marie Milks ruled after a hearing in February 2004 that when Moses voluntarily disclosed his medical records to prosecutors, he had waived his physician-patient privilege. The Office of the Public Defender subsequently withdrew as his counsel, and with a new attorney, Moses appealed Milks' decision and argued that he had ineffective assistance.

The Intermediate Court of Appeals said the public defender was mistaken in her belief that she was required under Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure to turn over Moses' medical records to the state and in not realizing that by turning them over, she was waiving his physician-patient privilege.

Without the toxicology results, which showed Moses had cocaine in his system, the state could not have called its experts to testify on its effects on Moses' behavior.

The errors undermined Moses' credibility and substantially impaired his defense, the appellate court said.

Moses is serving a life term without parole for attempting to kill officer Earl Haskell and pointing his gun at another officer. The officers were trying to arrest him for breaking into a rental car.