Attorney William Harrison, who represents Jason Yokoyama, a former friend, business partner, and close confident of alleged criminal gang leader Michael Miske, will face off on Friday against federal prosecutors over whether or not the government is required by law to disclose prior statements made by unidentified witnesses who prosecutors say have tied Yokoyama to the kidnapping and murder of 21-year old Jonathan Fraser in July 2016.

Yokoyama was indicted last month on one count of racketeering conspiracy for allegedly being part of what prosecutors call the “Miske Enterprise,” an alleged racketeering conspiracy controlled and directed by Miske, former owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, M Nightclub, and other local businesses.

The allegations attributed to two “cooperating witnesses” were key factors relied on by Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter, who ordered Yokoyama held without bail during an August 6 hearing, over Harrison’s objections and contrary to the recommendation of a federal pretrial services report.

Harrison has filed a motion seeking reconsideration of Porter’s decision, and a separate motion seeking disclosure of the witness statements described as “material to [Yokoyama’s] bail hearing.”

In an August 16 motion, Harrison asks the court to order disclosure of any so-called “Jencks Material” for the two cooperating witnesses or any other unindicted/cooperating witness the government alleges have said Yokoyama participated in Fraser’s kidnapping and murder.

On Tuesday, prosecutors flatly rejected Harrison’s motion, saying it lacked a legal basis, and that disclosure of such information is not required “until said witness has testified on direct examination in the trial of the case.”

“The longstanding local ‘custom’ has been for the Government to agree to provide Jencks material the Friday before trial,” Assistant US Attorney Mark Inciong argued in the written response filed in court. “The United States will continue to follow that custom in this case and, given the complex nature, will likely agree to provide Jencks material significantly sooner than that. However, the Government will not agree to provide such material prior to any bail hearing.”

Of course, I’m not an attorney. However, the rule cited by prosecutors appears to require the production of witness statements at trial, as well as at preliminary hearings, sentencing, a hearing to revoke or modify the terms of probation or pretrial release, or at a detention hearing, such as the one to reconsider Yokoyama’s continued detention.

Prosecutors, however, say they do not plan on presenting any witnesses at the hearing to reconsider Yokoyama’s continued detention, and that “no direct statements or quotes have been attributed to any witness in the Government’s previous bail pleadings pertaining to Defendant Yokoyama nor does the Government intend to do so in the future.”

While there are no “direct statements or quotes” attributed to the witnesses, prosecutors did present nearly two pages of allegations apparently paraphrased from statements made by the two cooperating witnesses. These statements are important because they were cited by Porter in making his ruling that Yokoyama must remain behind bars until trial.

Whether this is sufficient to require their disclosure to the defense appears a certain to be a key point of contention in the hearing on the motion for disclosure, scheduled for Friday, September 3, at 9:45 am before Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield.

Harrison, meanwhile, has argued that allegations put forward by prosecutors based on statements by cooperating witnesses are “just that, allegations.”

“The court should accord them little weight if any,” Harrison argues in his motion to require disclosure of the statements. Instead, Harrison stresses his client is entitled to the legal “presumption of innocence,” especially in light of his lack of any prior criminal history.

The hearing on the underlying motion for reconsider of the prior detention decision is scheduled for Friday, September 10, also at 9:45.

Also see:

Miske associate seeks reconsideration of order denying release on bail, August 18, 2021.

Defense lawyers attack credibility of defendants who have “flipped”, August 9, 2021.

Updated Indictment In Miske Case Includes New Defendants And Details Of Alleged Murder, August 4, 2021.

Us Response Re Yokoyama Motion for Discovery by Ian Lind on Scribd