The starting date in the trial of alleged racketeering ringleader Michael J. Miske, Jr., along with his six remaining defendants, is again up in the air. Miske, former owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, M Nightclub, and a number of other businesses, is alleged to have operated a racketeering organation behind the facade provided by his “legitimate” businesses.

The trial is currently scheduled to being in September and to last about five months, but Miske’s attorneys filed a motion in federal court on Friday seeking another 4-month delay.

The primary reason given is the recent loss of Tom Otake, who was removed from the case due to conflicts of interest surrounding associated with a 2014 meeting between Miske, Otake, and Wayne Miller, a key Miske associate, where Miller allegedly described how an attempted purchase of more than 20 pounds of cocaine in California had been broken up by federal drug agents. The neeting was held in the parking lot of a Waikiki-area elementary school, and Otake has acknowledged that the meeting did take place.

The government argued that it will need to call Otake as a witness to validate Miller’s expected testimony about the meeting, and Judge Derrick Watson agreed.

The government previously pointed to other conflicts involving two of Otake’s former clients, although Watson’s order said the conflict created by the parking lot meeting mean he didn’t need to consider the additional conflicts.

The result, Miske’s attorney’s argue, is that the work formerly slated to be split between the three attorneys will now have to be shouldered by the two who remain, Lynn Panagakos and Reno-based Michael Kennedy.

In a recent court hearing, another attorney guessed there will be between 300 and 500 witnesses appearing over the course of the trial.

And Panagakos, in a declaration supporting the motion for a further delay, recited some now relatively familiar, but still staggering, statistics.

Evidence produced in the process of discovery “includes in excess of 2,000,000 pages of documents, extractions from 51 digital devices, 8 social media search warrant returns, in excess of 11,000 native files, over 200 hours of audio and video recordings, and 53.6 terabytes (18.75 years/6,836 days) of polecam data….”

Yes, you read that right. A camera on a utility pole outside the Kamaaina Termite office on Queen Street was reportedly capturing photos of the area for over 18 years!

In addition, another 40 terabytes of digital data, apprently scans of records seized from Miske’s various businesses, was produced to Miske and co-defedant Delia Fabro-Miske because of the association to the businesses, but was not provided to other defendants.

My guess is that obtaining approval from Judge Watson for this additional trial delay is not going to be easy. Not all co-defendants have supported prior delays, and an attorney representing one defendant, Jarrin Watson, is appealing for his client’s release on the grounds that the more than 2-1/2 years in custody since arrest is a violation of his constitutional rights. A hearing on that appeal is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.

In addition, Watson warned during an earlier court hearing that attorneys in the case should plan on cancelling vacations and working long hours to meet the September trial dates.

While indicating further delays are possible, he signaled that he would be more critical of such requests going forward.

The fact that there is a massive amount of evidence in the case, and a large number of expected witnesses, is not new, and attorneys who were part of the case from the beginning have already had 2-1/2 years to prepare their trial strategies. The sheer amount of evidence will be a burden no matter how long the trial is delayed, so it seems like it will not be the deciding factor in the judge’s assessment of this latest request.

The schedule for submission of written responses, along with a hearing date on the request for another 4 month delay, have not yet been announced.