More than 130 Family Court misdemeanor cases have been dismissed by state judges, and at least another 100 more will be tossed out, as a result of a recent Hawaii Supreme Court decision.

City Prosecutor Keith Kane­shiro said Tuesday his office will refile the criminal charges in all dismissed cases.

He said the office might face difficulties in dealing with finding witnesses and serving the defendants with the refiled charges but that "we’ll do our best."

"It would be a real tragedy if some victims of domestic violence end up being denied justice," he said.

Family Court handles domestic violence cases, including abuse charges and protective and restraining orders. It has jurisdiction over its own district court-level and circuit court-level cases.

The Dec. 18 ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court overturned the misdemeanor conviction of Sushil Basnet because he wasn’t arraigned at the Family Court’s circuit level.

The decision dealt with the long-standing practice in Oahu’s Family Court of holding arraignments in its district court, then sending the cases to its circuit courtfor jury trials without holding a second arraignment there.

The Family Court had not been holding the second arraignment for years, according to lawyers who handle those cases.

In the unanimous 31-page ruling written by Associate Justice Simeon Acoba, the high court said the Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure mandate that defendants must be arraigned the second time to give circuit court jurisdiction to try the case.

The high court set aside Basnet’s conviction and ordered Family Court to dismiss the charge, abuse of a family or household member.

The ruling allows prosecutors to refile the charge.

It applies to Family Court cases involving defendants who asked for jury trials on charges that they violated court protective orders or that they abused a family or household member.

Almost all defendants charged with those misdemeanors ask for jury trials, according to defense attorneys.

Tammy Mori, state Judiciary spokes­woman, said Family Court judges have been notified to implement a new practice to abide by the penal procedure rules.

The rules call for an arraignment in Family Court circuit court within 14 days of the defendant being arraigned in district court and demanding a jury trial.

Mori said the Judiciary realizes this will create "extra paperwork" for the prosecutor’s office, but it will ensure that there won’t be future challenges.

New misdemeanor cases won’t be affected by the high court’s ruling, she said.

Family Court judges have been dismissing pending cases on the three Mondays since the high court’s decision.

The more than 130 dismissed cases include 59 on Monday, according to the state Judiciary and the prosecutor’s office.

One of the judges will be dismissing about 100 pending cases, Mori said.

"It’s unfair that we now have to refile (cases) because of the court’s practices," Kane­shiro also said in an email statement.

He said he hopes the courts will allow the refiled cases to proceed by either extending the time to bring a case to trial or expediting the cases.

His office will be faced with "a great amount of added work," but "that comes with our job," Kane­shiro said.

Jack Tonaki, state public defender, said the Family Court’s way of handling cases had been going on for years but hadn’t been challenged until the Basnet case.

"I think it’s a correct ruling," he said. "The rule is the rule. All the Supreme Court was doing is interpreting the court rules and the procedures that were set up by the court rule."

Defense attorneys say the high court’s ruling will not have retroactive effect on convictions in the past years unless the defendants objected during their case that they weren’t arraigned in Circuit Court.

The lawyers also say defendants who pleaded guilty generally waive their right to challenge the conviction.

Jason Burks, a criminal defense attorney, said he had one misdemeanor case dismissed Dec. 23, the first Monday after the high court’s ruling, and another on Monday.

"At this point it’s not a mess right now, but it’s going to lead to a mess," he said.

He said the process of dismissing the cases is relatively simple but that the court will be changing its practices, the refiling of cases will add to the caseload, and the prosecution might face problems abiding by the defendants’ right to a speedy trial.

But Burks said he had words of caution for his two clients.

"While they’re relieved to have the cases dismissed, they’re not out of the woods yet because they can be recharged and reprosecuted," he said.