Here are a few recent developments related to the racketeering case against former Kamaaina Termite & Pest Control owner, Michael J. Miske, Jr., and seven remaining co-defendants.

—Kaulana Freitas, who pleaded guilty to being part of Miske’s racketeering conspiracy and to taking part in a chemical attack on a Honolulu nightclub using a chemical used in termite treatment, has been free on bond but restricted to living in his father’s 3 bedroom, 1-1/2 bath 1,568 square foot Kailua home. But on June 30, 2022, Judge Derrick Watson approved an agreement between Freitas’ attorney and federal prosecutors amending the terms of his release to require only that he “not change residence without the advance approval of Pretrial Services.”

—Lindsey Kinney, allegedly took part in the racketeering activities of Mike Miske and other defendants, but later had a falling out and became the victim of an attempted murder when Miske, John Stancil, and others ambushed and tried to shoot him at Kualoa Ranch during the filming of the last Jurassic Park movie.

Kinney, who was once the Enforcer for the Nakipi Motorcycle Club in Kaneohe, was reportedly arrested in November 2020 by Honolulu police on unrelated weapon and drug charges.

Earlier this year, Kinney was arrested and faces a federal charge of making death threats against several public officials on social media, in which he threatened to behead them.

Now his attorney, Ben Ignacio, has filed a motion to allow Kinney to be released pending trial into the custody of his mother in Kaneohe.

In a declaration filed in court on June 24, Ignacio says Kinney “is not receiving his prescribed mental health medication while in custody, and this is adversely affecting his ability to assist in his defense.” In addition, Ignacio said Kinney “believes that his personal safety is at risk, due to his role as a material witness against other FDC detainees facing prosecution in other Federal criminal matters,” apparently a reference to Miske and other co-defendants.

Ignacio said that “with the assistance of his prescribed mental health medication,” Kinney would abide by any terms and conditions the court believes are necessary, including taking his medications, avoiding social media, and having no contact with complainants or witnesses against him.

I’m not a lawyer, but given Kinney’s past and his reputation for violence, I tend to doubt that assurances that he will take his medication will be enough to overturn the prior decision to keep him in detention until trial.

—Dae Han Moon was convicted in 2018 of 2nd degree murder in the shooting death of another young man in a parking lot at Ala Moana Center on Christmas 2016. That shooting happened during a drug deal that appears have been part of the drug network of what prosecutors are calling the Miske Enterprise.

Moon now faces federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, murder for hire conspiracy, and drug trafficking conspiracy in the Miske case.

His attorney, Lars Robert Isaacson, filed a motion seeking to compel officials of Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center to provide him “a dedicated laptop computer to be able to adequately review the discovery in this case and prepare for trial” or, alternatively, provide him sufficient access to a computer at the facility.

Isaacson was appointed to represent Moon in August 2021, after his former attorney withdrew from the case.

The request for additional computer time is necessary because the large amount of evidence in the case “is almost beyond comprehension for a criminal case, even in federal court,” according to Isaacson. There have already been about 1.5 million pages of documents released to defendants as part of the discovery process, with large amounts of other digital data, according to Isaacson’s legal memo in support of the motion to compel.

a. Mr. Moon is housed in Unit 4A at FDC Honolulu. There are approximately 75 inmates in Unit 4A. In his unit, there are three current defendants set for the upcoming trial in this cause: Himself, John Stancil and Jarrin Young.

b. There are not two, but only one, dedicated computer in Unit 4A to review discovery and it is shared by all 75 inmates. The inmates have access to this computer from 6:00am to 8:45 p.m. However, the inmates have no privacy when using this computer and other defendants can, and often do, check to see what materials a defendant is looking at when he is reviewing his discovery.

C. While it has not yet happed on Unit 4A, in other units, when a person contracts COVID, the entire unit is not allowed to leave their cells and no one can use this computer.

d. The only other computer access offered is two hours a week use of the law library computer.

e. This amount of computer access is insufficient for him to attempt to review the voluminous discovery in this case.

A hearing on the motion has not yet been scheduled.

—Jacob “Jake” Smith, Wayne Miller, Kaulana Freitas, Nicholas Carignan, Norman Akau, Harry Kauhi, Mike Buntenbah, Tricia Castro, Hunter Wilson. Sentencing of defendants who have pleaded guilty as part of plea deals requiring them to be witnesses in the Miske trial, are being rolled over, one by one, to dates after what is expected to be a lengthy trial scheduled to begin in April 2023.