Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield today denied a motion by attorney Thomas Otake to end his representation of accused drug and racketeering kingpin Michael J. Miske, Jr.

In the motion filed on Friday, Otake said prosecutors had approached him with information about an issue they believe had created an “unresolvable conflict of interest” for the attorney. The substance of the information was not disclosed.

Today’s hearing quickly adjourned while the courtroom was cleared and locked. The sealed hearing continued with only Miske, his attorneys–Otake, Lynn Panagakos, and Reno-based Michael Jerome Kennedy, and Mansfield. The hearing minutes indicate there was discussion between the attorneys and Miske, followed by a conversation between Judge Mansfield and Miske “to determine if there is any breakdown in communication.”

The closed hearing lasted for 30 minutes.

When it was over, the courtroom was unlocked, and Mansfield denied Otake’s motion to withdraw. So, for now at least, Otake remains part of Miske’s legal team.

However, Otake and Panagakos still face a hearing next month on the government’s motion to disqualify both because of conflicts stemming from two fraudulent character reference letters they collected and later submitted in court seeking to gain Miske’s release from the Federal Detention Center pending trial. The letters are the basis for two obstruction of justice charges against Miske added in a third superseding indictment last month. Prosecutors say this creates an untenable situation in which either or both attorneys may be called as witnesses to these allegedly criminal acts by their client.

Responses by Panagakos and Otake must be filed by January 27, and any replies by the government in support of the motion are due by February 3. A hearing on the motion will be held before Judge Derrick Watson on February 10 at 10 a.m.

Trial in the case of Miske and six remaining co-defendants is scheduled to begin on April 17.