I thought that announcing my “medical leave of absence” would allow me to step away from this blog and from posts on Facebook.

But that has proved to be difficult.

It’s been frustrating to watch developments related to the ongoing Miske-related proceedings that have gone unreported.

Today I finally broke, and sought out the aid of Google’s Gemini AI assistant to help report on the 9th Circuit’s dismissal of John Stancil’s appeal of his 20-year sentence. The court’s decision was handed down over a month ago, and hasn’t been reported on.

I asked Gemini’s help in summarizing the arguments. Although I tried to tweak Gemini’s tone, I just didn’t have the time or energy to get control of it through detailed instructions.

I did, however, go through and edit the text to remove errors and ambituity. I hope that I was successful.

So, here’s my disclosure: I co-authored this blog post with Gemini, but I have to take responsiblity for any remaining errors.

The 9th Circuit Court dismisses Stancil’s appeal of his 20-year sentence

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals completely shut the door on John B. Stancil’s appeal of his 20-year sentence, the maximum for the crime of racketeering conspiracy. The court’s decision granting a government motion to dismiss was posted in late February.
The court ruled Stancil’s plea agreement included valid waiver of his right to appeal his case or sentence except under very limited circumstances.

Stancil’s attorney, Boise-based William Miles Pope, argued that comments by Federal Judge Derrick K. Watson during Stancil’s plea hearing opened the door to on of those limited exceptions, but the Ninth Circuit wasn’t buying it. The court concluded Watson’s choice of words simply “did not negate the written waiver of the right to appeal.”

Although rejecting Stancil’s appeal, the court also provided additional time to allow Pope to file a motion for reconsideration. The deadline for filing the motion has been extended to May 11.

Stancil’s appeal goes back to his guilty plea to a racketeering conspiracy charge tied to the violent “Miske Enterprise” in Hawaii. To dodge a trial, Stancil made a deal with the government. He agreed to plead guilty to the one racketeering conspriacy charge, and in return, prosecutors would drop twelve other serious counts and cap his maximum prison time at 20 years instead of a potential life sentence.

Part of this bargain meant signing a broad appeal waiver, standard in such plea agreements. Stancil agreed to give up his right to appeal his conviction and any sentence that fell “within the Guidelines range as determined by the Court at the time of sentencing”. At his sentencing, the district court crunched the numbers, figured his guideline range was 210 to 262 months, capped it at the 240-month statutory maximum, and gave him exactly 240 months behind bars. Since 240 months was right in that court-determined range, the government argued his appeal was totally blocked.

But Stancil claimed a “Get Out of Jail Free” Loophole. Even with that signed contract, Stancil appealed anyway. His entire argument hinged on whether comments by Judge Watson during his change-of-plea hearing opened the door to his appeal.

Stancil’s defense argued that the judge clearly and unambiguously told him he’d keep his right to appeal if his sentence was “something above the applicable sentencing guideline range”. Under Ninth Circuit precedent, if a judge gives you an unambiguous free pass to appeal, that spoken word overrides whatever you signed in the plea agreement.

Stancil also argued that the phrase “applicable guidelines range” legally means the correctly calculated range. In his appeal, Stancil argued that he deserved a lesser sentence because, in his view, he played only a minor role, rather than a central role, in murder-for-hire plot. If the court had agreed with him, his true guidelines range would have dropped to 188-235 months.

He argued that his 240-month sentence was technically “above” what he argued was the true applicable range, meaning the judge’s oral exception should let his appeal move forward.

Prosecutors responded with a motion to dismiss the appeal, insisting that Stancil’s written waiver was absolutely binding. They pushed back on Stancil’s narrative by adding some much-needed context from the hearing transcript.

They pointed out that right before the judge spoke, the prosecutor had detailed the waiver and specifically noted the exception only applied if the sentence went beyond the range “that the Court finds is applicable”. The judge then agreed with the prosecutor’s summary and warned Stancil that he was signing a “very broad, general waiver” of his rights.

The government argued that, at worst, the judge’s slight change in phrasing was just ambiguous—and precedent says that ambiguous statements from a judge aren’t enough to blow up an otherwise valid appeal waiver. Plus, they reminded the court that Stancil got a massive sweetheart deal, dodging a life sentence and getting a dozen charges dropped. They argued he shouldn’t be allowed to back out of his end of the bargain after reaping all those benefits.

It’s worth looking at Judge Watson’s review of Stancil’s criminal history to understand the gravity of this case.

Technically, Stancil stood before the court as a first-time felon with a low Criminal History Category of I. But Chief District Judge Derrick K. Watson made it very clear at sentencing that Stancil’s actual track record was incredibly violent and spanned years.

This wasn’t just a brief lapse in judgment. Judge Watson and the prosecution detailed a long list of crimes Stancil actively committed for the racketeering organization controlled by his half-brother, crime boss Michael J. Miske, Jr..

This included:

Murder-for-Hire: Stancil’s active role in a plot to assassinate a man named Joe Boy Tavares.

Chemical Attacks: Providing the toxic fumigant chloropicrin to a co-conspirator, which was then released into two crowded rival nightclubs (the Ginza and The District) on consecutive nights.

Armed Robberies: Participating in a clothing store robbery where he and his crew wore masks and used zip ties, a handgun, and a baton. He was also involved in robbing a methamphetamine dealer where they impersonated law enforcement officers.

A Deadly Ambush: A masked ambush at Aloha Tattoo that Stancil actually filmed on his phone, which ultimately ended with a co-conspirator getting stabbed to death.

Vicious Assaults: A string of brutal beatings targeting Miske’s business rivals. Victims were violently attacked and hospitalized for “crimes” as minor as handing out party invitations or bidding against Miske at local car auctions.

Speaking directly to Stancil, Judge Watson summed him up as a “key player in terrorizing the citizenry of this city and this county for years, doing the bidding of Mr. Miske any time he asked”.

In the end, the Ninth Circuit completely sided with the government. By granting the motion to dismiss, the court confirmed that Stancil’s written plea agreement holds up. The district court’s conversational summary at the hearing just wasn’t enough to rewrite the contract he had signed.