Federal prosecutors declined to take a position on whether Norman Akau III should be released from federal custody after agreeing to plead guilty to being part of a racketeering conspiracy allegedly controlled and directed by former Honolulu businessman Michael J. Miske, Jr.

Miske, former owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, Kamaaina Solar, Kamaaina Plumbing, M Nighclub, and other businesses, was charged last year along with ten co-defendants with a laundry list of serious crimes, including racketeering conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, drug trafficking, bank fraud, and weapons offenses. Miske personally faces 17 charges, with four that carry a potential death penalty, although the Department of Justice has not yet decided whether it will seek the death penalty or life in prison.

Beverly Hills-based attorney Ronald Richards filed a motion in federal court on May 24 which revealed Akau has entered into a “fully executed plea agreement” with prosecutors, and requesting he be released on bond pending sentencing. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Friday morning, June 4, before Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield.

The court earlier approved the release of another of Miske’s co-defendants, Hunter Wilson, after his guilty plea was accepted by Judge Derreck Watson last month. Wilson is free pending sentencing, currently scheduled for January 2022.

In a response filed in court yesterday, prosecutors did not oppose Akau’s release. Instead, they simply declined to take a position, choosing instead to leave the decision in the hands of the judge.

The United States believes defendant AKAU was correctly detained initially and will defer to the Court as to whether the facts presented in defendant’s motion constitute the necessary change in circumstances for purposes of revoking the current order of detention and setting bail

Richards, in calling for Akau’s release, noted prosecutors dropped the four of five charges against Akau, including those with the harshest potential sentences, in exchange for his guilty plea on a single count of racketeering conspiracy. The charge carries a maximum 20 year sentence, but Richards pointed out there is no required minimum sentence.

As a result, Richards argued, most of the reasons used to justify keeping Akau behind bars are now moot. In addition, Richards pointed out that Akau’s family has agreed to put up the family home as security, and also agreed to put up a $250,000 unsecured bond. Nothing in Akau’s past indicates he would be a flight risk under these circumstances, according to the motion.

Wilson and Akau are the first of Miske’s ten co-defendants known to have accepted plea deals and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. However, six others who were not among those charged in Miske’s case have already pleaded guilty to charges stemming from their involvement in drug trafficking and other crimes tied to the alleged racketeering conspiracy, and agreed to testify against Miske and his co-defendants.

See:

“Two Miske defendants say they qualify for release from federal detention pending trial,” iLind.net, July 28, 2020.

United States’ Response To Defendant’s Motion For Bond And Revocation Of Detention Order, June 1, 2021.