A federal jury in Portland, Oregon, convicted two members of a local gang of racketeering conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering, charges which are also included in the indictment of former Honolulu business owner Michael J. Miske, Jr.
The latter charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Miske is the only one of the remaining defendants in his case to face the murder in aid of racketeering charge.
The Portland case was built around the testimony of seven cooperating witnesses. The case against Miske and his co-defendants is also built around a number of defendants who have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors. Six of the original defendants have now pleaded guilty, along with at least six more who were charged separately but have admitted to being associated with or participating in the Miske organization.
Defense attorneys in the Portland case took the offensive against those cooperating witnesses.
As reported by OregonLive.com:
But defense lawyers said the government’s case was based on unreliable cooperating witnesses who hope to get time shaved off their own sentences or prison terms.
The lawyers highlighted the witnesses’ changing stories over time and what they described as “scripted” testimony to fit the government’s narrative at trial. They took prosecutors and FBI agents to task for failing to record most of the cooperating witnesses’ prior interviews with the government.
Four of the witnesses have pleaded guilty to the racketeering conspiracy.
Three of the witnesses had a death sentence hovering over them until it was taken off the table by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021, said Richard Wolf, Jones’ lawyer.
“The government has based its case on liars, robbers and killers,” Wolf said.
Miske’s attorneys have signaled they will also be raising similar issues in his defense.
In the end, the Oregon jurors were not overly swayed by those defense arguments aimed at discrediting certain witnesses, and found both defendants guilty on those two charges. One was acquitted of a second murder.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Miske case have not had to reveal their witness lists yet, although the trial is expected to run at least three months. It seems quite possible prosecutors will call more than 100 witnesses, and also have mountains of other evidence as well.
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Witnesses and victims in criminal cases are often dirtbags. But juries often find that defendants those dirtbags testify against are worse dirtbags. Also, just because Dirtbag A snitches on Dirtbag B doesn’t mean that Dirtbag A won’t also do hard time. Just maybe not as much time, or avoiding a sentence of death or of life without parole.
In this Hawaii case, it’s kind of hard to believe the feds would cut any deal with a defendant who they truly believe directly participated in blowtorch torture and murder, as alleged by a now-deceased second victim. But who knows? Maybe a reeking deal was the only solid way to lock up the whole putrid pack.
Many important questions in this case and likely related cases remain unanswered. So it will be good if an actual trial forces more truth to come out.
I wonder who was the supplier source of drugs for the operation .
Ian:
Won’t it be more like Whitey Bulgers?
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-mass-dick-lehr/1102257334