The case grinds on.

>One of Mike Miske’s cousins, Kaulana Freitas, was sentenced this week on two counts, racketeering conspiracy and use of a chemical weapon.

Judge Derrick Watson sentenced Freitas to 36 months on each count, to run concurrently (at the same time) rather than one after the other.

Watson’s sentencing order recommended Freitas be placed in a low-security federal facility at Lompoc, California, or Stafford, Arizona. In addition, Watson recommended that Freitas be placed in a 500-hour residential drug abuse and substance abuse treatment program, and also receive vocational and educational training. In addition, he will remain on 3-years of supervised release after completing his prison term.

Freitas, 36, was arrested in July 2020 along with Miske and 9 other original co-defendants. He was released on bond pending trial on January 5, 2022 and pleaded guilty two month later, on March 9, 2022. He had been held at Honolulu’s Federal Detention Center for nearly 18 months before his release on bond, which should count as time already served and reduce his 36-month sentence.

In addition to the crimes he was sentenced on, Freitas admitted to conspiring with Jake Smith and others to sell oxycodone, taking part in at least one armed robbery, and assaulting Johnny Fraser at a Kaneohe park in 2014.

See Freitas’ admissions in the “Factual Stipulations” section of his plea agreement with prosecutors (pages 5-11).

> Hunter Wilson, one of the relatively minor characters in the Miske saga, is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday morning, January 22.

Federeal sentencing guidelines suggest a sentence of 121-151 months in federal prison for Wilson, 28.

But on January 13, federal prosecutors filed a sealed motion that apparently asks for a downward adjustment from these guidelines.

Several days later, Wilson’s attorney, Kona-based Andrew Kennedy, filed a heavily redacted version of a sentencing memo supporting that downward departure from the guidelines and spelling out the case for a shorter sentence.

The section of Kennedy’s sentencing statement discussing the sentencing guidelines is redacted, so the specific legal arguments being made on Wilson’s behalf remain confidential.

However, Kennedy argues, Wilson was only 24 when he was arrested, and the crimes he was charged with took place when he was between 20 and 22. Both of Hunter’s parents served time in prison. Wilson was not close to his mother mother, who had drug problems and was incarcerated when he was young, and his father was imprisoned on federal drug charges when Wilson was 14.

With his mother absent and father in prison, Wilson became friends with Jacob “Jake” Smith, who was one of the older kids in his nighborhood.

From the sentencing statement:

“Jake Smith was a strong personality in the community where Mr. Wilson resided. In the absence of a father figure, Mr. Wilson looked up to Jake Smith as an older brother. These were formative years for Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson was a teenager who’s father was just removed from his life and he latched on to those who appeared strong and assertive and successful within his immediate community.

This relationship with Jake Smith is ultimately what led Mr. Wilson to the
Miske Enterprise.

In testimony during Miske’s trial, Wilson said he attended Kahuku High School while living in Kaaawa, and graduated in 2013, when he began selling crystal meth. He had started using meth when he was 16, and quickly became addicted. After high school, he was spending at least $200 a day on his own drug use, and sold drugs pay these bills. He said he was part of Jake Smith’s drug network.

Wilson was the first of Mike Miske’s co-defendants to “flip” and begin cooperating with the government.

He signed a “proffer agreement” pledging to tell the truth to government investigators on July 20, 2020, just five days after he, Miske, and other co-defendants were arrested in a series of raids. He met with FBI agents for the first time that same day. On July 23, only 8 days after his arrest, Wilson was released on $50,000 unsecured bond, and moved into a halfway house. He pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and conspiring to distribute drugs on May 6, 2021.

He remained at the halfway house for five months until a shot was fired one night into the living room by an unknown assailant.

Wilson testified that the incident left him afraid for his life, and he sought permission to relocate for his own safety. He was allowed to move in with his family to the Big Island.

In more than four years on release, Wilson has not violated any conditions and has built a very positive relationship with his federal probation officer, Kennedy wrote. He worked as a flooring installer until he was injured, and now hopes for additional experience that could lead to his own contractor’s license in the future.

“For the reasons stated herein, Defendant Hunter Wilson respectfully requests that this Court grant the government’s motion for downward departure and fashions a sentence appropriate in this case,” Kennedy wrote.

> In a surprise move, attorney Birney B. Bervar withdrew from representing Lance Bermudez, another of Miske’s original 10 co-defendants, and was replaced by Myles Breiner. The change, approved by Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield, was quickly approved by Judge Derrick Watson.

Bermudez, 33, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. At the time of his change of plea hearing, Bermudez was being held at an undisclosed location, and the Bureau of Prisons online inmate locator continues to list him as “not in BOP custody.” He is currently scheduled to be sentenced on March 20, but with the change of attorneys, this could be further delayed.

Bermudez had a reputation as a “shooter” that attracted Miske’s interest, and he was recruited to carry out a murder-for-hire contract targeting a Waimanalo man Miske believed was providing information to federal investigators.

Bermudez faces a 10-year minimum sentence on the drug conspiracy charge, and up to 20 years on the racketeering charge, according to his plea agreement.

Breiner’s first order of business as his attorney was to file an 8-page request for discovery of detailed documentation in the government’s case against Bermudez, including such things as “…the names and addresses of the witnesses upon whom the government intends to rely upon to establish Defendant’s presence at the scene of the alleged offense,” any written or recorded statements by Bermudez held by the government, any relevant grand jury testimony, as well as the names, current addresses, and telephone numbers of any informants involved in the case.

The discovery request seems to ignore the vast amount of discovery, including over two million pages of documents, previously disclosed to the defendants and their attorneys over the past four years under the supervision of a court-appointed coordinating discovery attorney based in California.

The questions seem more appropriate for an attorney preparing for trial or an upcoming plea negotiation, but with Bermudez’ plea deal wrapped up back in 2022, they seem oddly disconnected. However, dropping into a case this complex just weeks before the scheduled sentencing has to be a daunting task for Breiner.

And he was quick to assure that Bermudez “is NOT backing out on the plea agreement.”

Breiner said in a text message on Saturday that he had previously represented Bermudez in a state case. Based on that past experience, he said Bermudez requested his assistance “to finish the case.”