Here are two reports on Friday’s hearing to consider whether to revoke the release on bond of attorney Sheri Tanaka, a defendant in the federal bribery case involving former city prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro and several officers and employees of Mitsunaga & Associates, a politically influencial architectural and engineering firm.
From Civil Beat’s Christina Jedra:
And from Lynn Kawano of Hawaii News Now:
Attorney investigated in contract killer probe claims she was actually a victim of extortion
New things learned or clarified.
The Civil Beat story search warrant was executed on Tanaka’s home, in addition to the warrant previously disclosed by HNN to search the property housing several businesses owned by Michael Irish that operate from a warehouse/office complex on Robello Lane in Kalihi.
As reported by Civil Beat, “Tanaka’s attorney denied his client threatened anyone’s life. He said Tanaka is a victim of extortion. After money changed hands, an informant told the feds – falsely – that it was a payoff for a hit, according to Mark Mermelstein…. Someone was making threats to Tanaka and her family and had information about their locations and movements, according to Mermelstein. Tanaka believed their lives were in danger, he said.”
The proceedings are complicated because the investigation is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona to avoid any conflicts of interest, and that office was not represented at the Friday morning hearing. As a result, no new evidence was presented, which led the judge to rule that he had nothing to justify any changes in Takana’s release on bond.
It’s not possible at this point to sort out fact from fiction, or to evaluate the conflicting murder-for-hire vs. extortion scenarios. It’s hard to predict whether this will get sorted out before the trial’s scheduled start in just a few weeks.
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