Hawaii Supreme Court Orders New Trial Censures Roberts Court

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a man convicted in 1990, citing discredited forensic evidence, and used its ruling to issue an unusually sharp critique of the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts. In a 91-page majority opinion authored by Justice Todd W. Eddins and filed on July 15, the court vacated the kidnapping and sexual assault convictions of Daniel Granillo, finding that key FBI testimony at his trial has since been scientifically invalidated.

The court concluded that expert testimony from an FBI analyst regarding hair and fiber comparisons, which was central to the prosecution's case in 1990, is now considered unreliable. The opinion leaned on subsequent scientific reviews, including a 2017 Department of Justice report, which found such microscopic analysis could not support the conclusions presented at trial. Applying Hawaiʻi's constitutional standard for false evidence, the court ruled that a defendant can seek a new trial based on later scientific developments even if prosecutors were unaware the evidence was flawed at the time. The court found a reasonable possibility that the discredited testimony influenced the jury and...