By the end of the week, with five days of jury selection completed, 44 jurors had survived the individual voir dire, according to court minutes for the day. That’s sufficient to have a 12 member jury with six alternates after both prosecution and defense attorneys exercise off of their allotted “peremtory challenges,” where they can dismiss a juror without having to state a reason.

The court minutes for Day 5 spell out the schedule going forward.

Spoiler: The Miske trial will start with opening statements on Monday, January 22.

Proposed Schedule for Next Week

A total of 44 jurors have completed individual voir dire and therefore, will be summoned to appear on 1/16/2024 @ 9:00 a.m. at which time the parties will exercise their peremptory challenges. In an abundance of caution to factor in nonappearances among the 44 jurors, another group of 10 prospective jurors will report on 1/16/2024 at 9:00 a.m. If all 44 jurors are presents, the 10 prospective jurors will be excused and then Court will proceed with the peremptory challenges. Once 18 jurors are selected, Court will provide them with preliminary instructions and administer their oath. Parties are reminded that any agreed upon instructions regarding substantive pre-opening statements to be read to the jurors must be submitted to the Court by 1/16/2024.

By agreement of the parties, the Evidentiary Hearing has been set for 1/18/2024 and 1/19/2024 at 8:30 a.m. in Aha Kupono before Chief Judge Derrick K. Watson.

Parties are to be prepared to give opening statements on 1/22/2024 and, if time permits, proceed with presentation of evidence to the jury.

Further Jury Selection (Day 6) set for 1/16/2024 at 9:00 a.m. in Aha Kupono before Chief Judge Derrick K. Watson.

Defendants (1) Michael J. Miske, Jr. and (2) John B. Stancil remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Services.

(Reporter-Gloria Bediamol)

(CHIEF JUDGE DERRICK K. WATSON)
(tyk)

Delia Fabro-Miske’s plea agreement seems to have been a last minute deal, although I suppose putting it on the record with such short notice could have been a strategic move by the attorneys.

Notice of the hearing was posted just 47 minutes before it was to begin. And the 9 a.m. start time displaced the morning session scheduled for jury selection in the Miske case, which began on Monday.

My story about the plea deal was posted at Civil Beat around 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.

“Miske’s Daughter-In-Law Agrees To ‘Fully Cooperate’ In Last-Minute Plea Deal / Delia Fabro-Miske’s agreement with prosecutors leaves only two defendants in the federal trial as jury selection continues”

Was this a surprise to the Mike Miske and John Stancil? Up until this point, they had been proceeding with a joint defense.

The same question can be asked of Jason Yokoyama’s plea two weeks ago. Did the others have advance notice?

I thought John Stancil would have cut a deal before this. He’s 36, and still has some life to look forward to. And he took a plea at least once in a case where he and his brother, Mike Miske, were both charged. That case involved felony assault charges stemming from the December 15, 2012 assault on promoter Michael Galmiche and his partner on the street outside Waterfront Plaza in downtown Honolulu, where Miske’s M Nightclub was located.

Galmiche set up to advertise a New Year’s Eve event to patrons leaving Miske’s club at closing time. Miske responded by bringing a group of his bouncers, beating Galmiche and destroying his computer and other electronic equipment.

The felony assault charges against Miske are still pending in state court, but were put on hold pending resolution of the federal case. Stancil pled to misdemeanor assault several years ago, leaving Mike to go to trial alone.

I suspected the same thing to occur in the federal case. There’s no way Stancil could get a deal without copping to felony charges, but he could potentially cut his prison time appreciably by cooperating, even at this late date.

At this point, eleven of Miske’s twelve co-defendants have pleaded guilty.

In addition, another group of at least defendants associated with the Miske Enterprise but charged separately.

Most of those who have pled out are cooperating with prosecutors and are included on the witness list and expected to testify at the trial.

A notice was posted on the court docket at 8:13 this morning setting a last-minute change of plea hearing for Delia Fabro-Miske at 9 a.m. before Judge Derrick Watson.

Fabro-Miske was married to Mike Miske’s late son, Caleb. After his death, Miske shifted most of his businesses in to her name in what prosecutors have allege was an attempt to hide his continued ownership and control.

The third superseding indictment charges her conspiring, with Miske and others, to commit crimes as part of the alleged Miske Enterprise, which prosecutors say was a sprawling racketeering organization. In addition, she is charged with one count of bank fraud, along with Mike Miske, for preparing and submitting false information in order to obtain an auto loan from Bank of Hawaii for another individual.

I’ll have more details here later today when the minutes of the plea change hearing are posted.