There was a hearing in federal court yesterday to consider a series of requests made by attorneys for John Stancil, Mike Miske’s half-brother and one of six remaining co-defendant in the pending racketeering case. It was really a series of of reminders of “Why Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center isn’t a good place to be stuck.”

My story reporting on the hearing was posted at Civil Beat early Monday evening (“Miske’s Half-Brother Wants Release To House Arrest Pending Trial/John Stancil’s motion recited a litany of specific grievances the defendant and his attorneys have alleged about the federal detention center“).

Stancil’s attorneys believe the most direct way to overcome the various bureaucratic barriers to effective contact with their client is to simply release him to house arrest in his parents’ Waimanalo home. They argue Stancil would not do anything that would result his parents losing their home, which they have agreed to put up as collateral for his bond, if he is released by the court.

Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield didn’t seem inclined to order Stancil’s release over the objections of the government and the court’s pretrial services staff. However, he did say he thought providing a computer for Stancil’s personal use for trial-related work was reasonable. He took the matter under advisement at the end of the hearing, and said he would try to have a decision shortly.

The frustration on all sides was evident during the hearing. On the one hand, Stancil and his attorneys feel he has been targeted for poor treatment, and bureaucratic bungling has deprived him of access to computer time necessary to effectively assist in his own defense by reviewing at least the basic parts of the 50+ Terabytes of digitized evidence that has been turned over by the government so far, and unspecified issues landed him in a cell in the Special Housing Unit, a euphemism for the detention center’s section for solitary confinement. On the government’s side, prosecutors say they aren’t the ones in charge of operating the facility, but explained there are limited options for placing Miske and Stancil, plus three remaining co-defendants, two other of the original defendants who have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors, as well as several other alleged key players in Miske’s criminal organization who were charged separately, have also pleaded guilty in deals with prosecutors and are expected to be witnesses against Miske and other former associates.

Mark Inciong, who presented the government’s case at Monday’s hearing, said the lack of available space meant that certain defendants in the Miske case are held in the same modules, something that would “never, ever” be done by choice. And, during the hearing, Hawaii was described as the only federal court district in which there are no relatively nearby federal or state facilities that can be used to enforce routine separations between co-defendants and witnesses when required.

The only new and relevant information that emerged during the hearing is that a third key witness against Miske has been moved into “witness protection” at his own request. Harry “Harry Boy” Kauhi, who pleaded guilty at the beginning of 2022.

As part of his plea, Kauhi admitted being a member of a racketeering conspiracy which Miske controlled and directed, and to have taken part in the 2016 robbery of another drug dealer at gunpoint in which several pounds of methamphetamine were stolen from the dealer’s car, and then split among the robbers. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop charges involving other crimes admitted by Kauhi, including taking part in two murder-for-hire plots, several robberies and drug trafficking.

Kauhi had been housed in a module with several other Miske-related defendants and witnesses, including Jacob “Jake” Smith, who has admitted being “on call” to assault victims when requested by Miske. Smith was also extensively involved in drug trafficking, took part in murder-for-hire plots Miske allegedly set in motion, and had a hand in other crimes as well.

During the hearing, it was disclosed that there had been an altercation between Smith and Kauhi, after which Kauhi requested being placed in witness protection.

As I reported in the Civil Beat story:

A check of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ online inmate locator confirmed that records of Kauhi’s location with the BOP system have been removed. All information about two other key witnesses who have also pleaded guilty and are expected to be key witnesses against Miske and others, Wayne Miller and Lance Bermudez, has similarly been excised from the online locator.

During a hearing to review and approve Bermudez’ change of plea and associated written plea agreement, Judge Derrick Watson noted that Bermudez was being held in an undisclosed location for his personal safety.

So at this point, there are at least three witnesses being held in witness protection in “off the books” locations.

One other note, unrelated to Monday’s hearing. Court records show that the preliminary hearing for Preston Kimoto, one of Miske’s original co-defendants who was arrested for witness tampering while out on bond pending trial, agreed to a fourth consecutive delay in the deadline for the government to file charges.

On July 3, Civil Beat published my story explaining that the repeated delays in the preliminary hearing appears to indicate plea negotiations are underway or perhaps an indiction Kimoto has already agreed to cooperate with prosecutors (“The Miske Files: Ex-Kamaaina Termite Manager Is Next In Line To Negotiate A Plea“).

Two days later, on July 5, Kimoto’s attorneys agreed to a fourth delay, pushing Kimoto’s preliminary hearing back to August 14.