I have a story today over at Civil Beat reporting on the outcomes of two recent attempts by defendants in the Miske case to get out on bail (“One Miske Defendant Gets Out On Bail, Another Ordered To Remain Behind Bars“).

The cut-to-the-chase version is that Miske’s half brother, John Stancil, isn’t going anywhere. The motion filed by his attorney seeking his release on bail was rejected after a brief hearing that lasted just 13 minutes. Stancil has been in Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center since his arrest in July 2020, and the trial, now scheduled for March 2022, is likely to be delayed further, according to comments by several attorneys in federal court recently.

And immediately after the hearing, Stancil’s lawyer, Walter J. Rodby, filed a motion seeking to withdraw from the case. According to Rodby’s declaration filed in court, he was hired last year by Stancil’s parents, but they can no longer afford to the fees. So it appears Stancil’s defense will be taken over by a court-appointed attorney.

Meanwhile, Jason Yokoyama, a former employee of Miske’s turned business partner in several ventures, will be released to home detention in his parents’ Aiea home, the same house Yokoyama grew up in. That was the ruling by Judge Derrick Watson yesterday after a hearing on a motion by prosecutors attempting to block Yokoyama’s release.

You can read the article for the list of conditions he will have to comply with when released.

I also learned something from Yokoyama’s attorney, Bill Harrison.

He noted during yesterday’s court hearing that Yokoyama is listed as Defendant #13 out of 13.

“As the court knows, the government puts the defendants’ culpability in order, and he [Yokoyama] is number 13,” Harrison said.

Assistant USA Attorney Mark Inciong responded by asking the judge “to disregard what number defendant Mr. Yokoyama is.”

“Sometimes it may mean something, other times it means nothing,” Inciong said.

In a telephone conversation after the hearing, Harrison chuckled at Inciong’s statement.

The number of the defendant shows the relative culpability,” Harrison said. “It’s been like that as long as I’ve been doing this, and I’ve been practicing law for 40 years.”

For the record, here are the lists of defendants, and their associated numbers, in the indictment unsealed in July 2020, and a second superseding indictment in July 2021.

Click on either image to view a larger version.