Federal Judge Leslie Kobayashi issued an order on Thursday directing the court clerk to publicly disclose previously confidential documents filed regarding the search warrant and seizure of the boat prosecutors say was used to dump the body of Jonathan Fraser into the ocean after he was kidnapped and murdered. Prosecutors allege the killing was part of a murder-for-hire plot directed by Honolulu businessman Michael J. Miske Jr.

The documents will be made public on November 23, 2020, unless one or more defendants in the Miske case can “demonstrate the disclosure will cause irreparable harm to one or more of the defendants’ fair trial rights or some other compelling interest…” or unless otherwise directed by a future order of the court.

Kobayashi ruled prosecutors failed to provide specific facts sufficient to outweigh the public interest in disclosure of the documents, which were sealed when originally filed in court.

“The Government has not made a compelling showing to overcome Petitioner’s qualified right of access under the First Amendment,” Kobayashi wrote.

They must show that non-disclosure “is strictly and inescapably necessary” in order to protect the Defendant’s fair trial guarantee or some other compelling interest. This is a high bar, surmountable only by establishing a substantial probability that: (1) disclosure will cause irreparable harm to the Defendant’s fair trial rights or some other compelling interest; (2) there is no alternative to continued secrecy that will adequately protect the right or interest; and (3) non-disclosure will effectively protect against the perceived harm.

Kobayashi’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest challenging the continuing secrecy regarding the search warrants now that Miske and ten associates have been indicted on charges that include Fraser’s kidnapping and murder.

Kobayashi’s order and other documents in the Civil Beat Law Center’s case can be found on its website.