Lankford v. City and County of Honolulu

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

Electronically Filed
Intermediate Court of Appeals
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
06-FEB-2024
07:59 AM
Dkt. 85 SO

NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

KIRK LANKFORD, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU; DEPARTMENT OF THE
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, for the City and County of Honolulu;
PETER CARLISLE, former Prosecuting Attorney for the City
and County of Honolulu, LISA DE MELLO, Deputy Prosecuting
Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu;
ARMINA A. CHING, First Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for
the City and County of Honolulu; KEITH M. KANESHIRO,
Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu,
Defendants-Appellees, and DOES 1-100, inclusive;
sued in their individual and official capacities,
Defendants

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
(CASE NO. 1CC15000330)

SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Leonard, Acting Chief Judge, Hiraoka and Nakasone, JJ.)

Kirk Lankford, representing himself, appeals from the
Judgment entered by the Circuit Court of the First Circuit on
November 23, 2018.1 He challenges the circuit court's order
granting the defendants' motion to dismiss his complaint, entered
on June 3, 2016. We affirm.
In 2008 Lankford was convicted of Murder in the Second
Degree in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes § 707-701.5.
State v. Lankford, No. 29287, 2011 WL 1836716, at *1 (Haw. App.

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The Honorable Virginia Lea Crandall presided.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

May 13, 2011) (mem.), cert. rejected, SCWC–29287, 2011 WL 4552995
(Haw. Oct. 4, 2011). He was sentenced to life in prison with the
possibility of parole. Id.
Lankford filed a complaint with the circuit court on
February 25, 2015. He claimed that the City and County of
Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney and four of its
attorneys (collectively, the City) violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He
also asserted state law tort claims.
The City removed the case to federal court. The
federal court dismissed the federal claims, declined to exercise
supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims, and remanded
the case to the circuit court.
Back in state court, the City moved to dismiss the
remaining claims. The circuit court granted the motion and
entered the Judgment. This appeal followed.
Lankford's tort claims against the City are based on
conduct connected with his sentencing by the circuit court and
his minimum sentence proceeding before the Hawai#i Paroling
Authority. Neither Lankford's conviction nor his sentence have
been vacated. A criminal defendant who has failed to overturn
their conviction cannot maintain a civil tort lawsuit based on
claims that necessarily imply the invalidity of the conviction.
Penaflor v. Mossman, 141 Hawai#i 358, 364, 409 P.3d 762, 768
(App. 2017); Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 484-86 (1994). The
circuit court did not err by dismissing Lankford's complaint.
The "Judgment" entered by the circuit court on
November 23, 2018, is affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, February 6, 2024.

On the briefs:
/s/ Katherine G. Leonard
Kirk Lankford, Acting Chief Judge
Self-represented
Plaintiff-Appellant. /s/ Keith K. Hiraoka
Associate Judge
Robert M. Kohn,
Deputy Corporation Counsel, /s/ Karen T. Nakasone
City and County of Honolulu, Associate Judge
for Defendants-Appellees.

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