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Electronically Filed
Intermediate Court of Appeals
CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
30-JAN-2026
07:57 AM
Dkt. 44 SO

NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS
OF THE STATE OF HAWAI‘I

CRANDALL LEE PENAFLOR, Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
STATE OF HAWAI‘I, Respondent-Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SECOND CIRCUIT
(CASE NO. 2PR980000001; [CASE ID. 2PC900000146])

SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Nakasone, Chief Judge, Wadsworth and McCullen, JJ.)

This appeal arises from the denial of self-represented
Petitioner-Appellant Crandall Lee Penaflor's (Penaflor) 2023
motion to amend his first Hawaiʻi Rules of Penal Procedure (HRPP)
Rule 40 petition filed and denied by the circuit court in 1998
(1998 First Petition). Since the 1998 First Petition, Penaflor
has filed three additional HRPP Rule 40 petitions, which have
all been denied, seeking relief from his 1991 convictions for
first-degree burglary, first-degree Terroristic Threatening,
NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAIʻI REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

Kidnapping, and first-degree sexual assault. See Penaflor v.
State, No. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX, 2025 WL 2268273, at *1 (Haw. App.
Aug. 8, 2025) (mem. op.) (setting forth procedural history of
Penaflor's four Rule 40 petitions). We affirm.
Penaflor appeals from the October 3, 2023 "Order
Denying Motion to Amend Petition" (Order Denying Motion to
Amend), filed by the Circuit Court of the Second Circuit
(Circuit Court).1
Penaflor contends the Circuit Court erred by:
(1) construing Penaflor's September 29, 2023 filing as a motion
to amend the First Petition and not ruling on the "colorable
claims"; and (2) "placing a time limit on [Penaflor]'s ability
to amend his [1998 First] [P]etition" and "applying HRPP Rule
40(a)(e) [sic]."2
Upon review of the record on appeal and relevant legal
authorities, giving due consideration to the issues raised and
arguments advanced by the parties, we resolve the contentions as
follows.
On September 29, 2023, Penaflor submitted a filing to
the Circuit Court requesting the following: "[Penaflor] seeks
substantial justice by freely amending his original HRPP Rule 40
filed on January 22, 1998, pursuant to HRPP Rule 40(e)[.]"3 In

1 The Honorable Kelsey T. Kawano presided.
2 Penaflor's Opening Brief does not comply with Rule 28(b) of the
Hawaiʻi Rules of Appellate Procedure (HRAP). To promote access to justice, we
do not automatically foreclose self-represented litigants from appellate
review if they do not comply with court rules. See Erum v. Llego, 147 Hawaiʻi
368, 380-81, 465 P.3d 815, 827-28 (2020). We address what we discern to be
Penaflor's arguments.
3 HRPP Rule 40(e) provides:

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the filing, Penaflor again raised claims of ineffective
assistance of trial counsel,4 and argued that HRPP Rule 40(a)(3)
did not apply because he was "represented by the same defense
counsel at trial and on appeals [sic]." In the October 3, 2023
Order Denying Motion to Amend, the Circuit Court construed
Penaflor's filing as a motion to amend the 1998 First Petition,
and denied it on grounds that Penaflor's claims of ineffective
assistance of counsel were waived, and because Penaflor was not
seeking to "amend a pending petition, but one that was already
denied . . . more than 25 years ago." Penaflor timely appealed.
(1) Penaflor argues that the Circuit Court erred when
it found that the September 29, 2023 filing was a "letter that
needed to be construed[,]" citing Makila Land Co., LLC v. Kapu,
152 Hawaiʻi 112, 522 P.3d 259 (2022). In Makila, the supreme
court held that the circuit court erred in failing to liberally
construe the pro se appellant's letter, stating that "[f]ilings
prepared by a pro se litigant should be construed by courts in a
manner that will afford the pro se litigant equal access to
justice and an opportunity to be heard." Id. at 121, 522 P.3d
at 268 (citation omitted).
Here, unlike in Makila, the Circuit Court properly
construed Penaflor's September 29, 2023 filing as a motion to
amend the 1998 First Petition. Penaflor's September 29, 2023

(e) Amendment and withdrawal of petition. The court may
grant leave to amend or withdraw the petition at any time.
Amendment shall be freely allowed in order to achieve
substantial justice. No petition shall be dismissed for
want of particularity unless the petitioner is first given
an opportunity to clarify the petition.
4 Penaflor's 1998 First Petition and his 2018 fourth petition also
raised claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. See Penaflor, 2025
WL 2268273, at *1-2.

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filing was filed under the case number for the 1998 First
Petition, 2PR980000001, and the filing specifically stated that
he sought "substantial justice by freely amending his original
HRPP Rule 40 [Petition] filed on January 22, 1998, pursuant to
HRPP Rule 40(e)[.]" (Emphasis added.) We conclude the Circuit
Court did not err in its liberal construction of Penaflor's
September 29, 2023 filing as a motion to amend the 1998 First
Petition.
(2) Penaflor argues that the Circuit Court erred by
"placing a time limit on [Penaflor]'s ability to amend his" 1998
First Petition and "applying HRPP Rule 40(a)(e) [sic][,]" citing
Bryant v. State, 6 Haw. App. 331, 720 P.2d 1015 (1986). This
argument lacks merit because the 1998 First Petition was already
denied in 1998. The record reflects that on May 4, 1998, the
circuit court issued its "Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law
and Order Denying HRPP Rule 40 Petition" (1998 Order Denying
First Petition). Penaflor did not appeal the 1998 Order Denying
First Petition. Here, unlike Bryant in which the defendant
amended his HRPP Rule 40 petition prior to the circuit court's
ruling on it, Penaflor sought to amend his petition twenty-five
years after the circuit court had ruled on it. See id. at 334-
35, 720 P.2d at 1018-19. The Circuit Court's conclusion that
Penaflor could not amend the 1998 First Petition "that was
already denied, . . . more than 25 years ago" did not constitute
an abuse of its discretion. See Graham v. Haw. Paroling Auth.,
No. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX, 2025 WL 3268528, at *3 (Haw. App. Nov. 24,
2025) (SDO) (reviewing a denial of a motion to amend a HRPP Rule
40 petition for abuse of discretion).

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For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the October 3,
2023 Order Denying Motion to Amend, filed by the Circuit Court
of the Second Circuit.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai‘i, January 30, 2026.
On the briefs:
/s/ Karen T. Nakasone
Crandall Lee Penaflor
Chief Judge
Self-represented Petitioner-
Appellant.
/s/ Clyde J. Wadsworth
Associate Judge
Renee Ishikawa Delizo,
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney,
/s/ Sonja M.P. McCullen
County of Maui
Associate Judge
for Respondent-Appellee.