§710-1072  Tampering with a witness. 
(1)  A person commits the offense of tampering with a witness if he
intentionally engages in conduct to induce a witness or a person he believes is
about to be called as a witness in any official proceeding to:



(a) Testify falsely or withhold any testimony which
he is not privileged to withhold; or



(b) Absent himself from any official proceeding to
which he has been legally summoned.



(2)  Tampering with a witness is a misdemeanor.
[L 1972, c 9, pt of §1]



 



COMMENTARY ON §710-1072



 



  The social harm dealt with in this section is the same as
that dealt with in the prior two sections, however, the means specified in the
definition of this offense (i.e., conduct intended to induce) are not as
culpable as in the former sections, hence tampering with a witness is only
graded as a misdemeanor.  A person who attempts to affect testimony, or the
absence of it, by, e.g., persuasion or trickery, as opposed to bribery or
intimidation, does not commit an offense grave enough to be condemned as a
felony.  However, unlike the sections on witness bribery and intimidation,[1]
an attempt to induce a prospective witness to avoid process is not made an
offense:  this is because neither the means nor the end is illegal in
itself.[2]



  Previous Hawaii law recognized no offense equivalent to
tampering with a witness.  And, though it is conceivable that such conduct
could have been penalized under the general contempt power of the court, there
appear no reported cases on the point.



 



__________



§710-1072 Commentary:



 



1.  §§710-1070 and 1071, respectively.



 



2.  Prop. Mich. Rev. Cr. Code, comments at 414.