Category Archives: Crime

Prosecutors agree Miske indictments must be set aside

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In a pair of court filings last week, federal prosecutors argued that legal precedent requires the criminal case against former Honolulu business owner Michael J. Miske, Jr., to be vacated, legally erased, all the way back to the his original indictment in mid-2019.

However, they argued a newly filed civil forfeiture complaint sidesteps a move by Miske’s attorneys to force return of more than $20 million of property and assets seized by the goverment.

Miske was convicted in July 2024 on 13 counts including racketeering, murder for hire, kidnapping, and assault in aid of racketeering, but died of an apparent accidental drug overdose on December 1, two months before he was scheduled to be sentenced.

The government spelled out its legal position in reply to an earlier motion to vacate the proceedings filed by Miske’s defense attorneys.

Under the legal principle of abatement ab initio, the charges must be vacated because Miske’s sudden death meant that he did not have the opportunity to exercise his legal right to challenge the conviction through the process of appeals to higher courts.

The Defendant’s death pending sentencing abates these criminal proceedings ab initio. Accordingly, the Court should dismiss the indictments as to the Defendant, which will terminate these proceedings in their entirety. Because no judgment of conviction was ever issued—including no preliminary or final order of forfeiture as part of that conviction—there is nothing else to dismiss or vacate.

Prosecutors also agreed that the criminal forfeiture of Miske’s cash, real property, and other assets must also be vacated.

However, prosecutors disclosed they had filed a 100-page civil forfeiture lawsuit the previous day identifying the same properties as subject to forfeiture to the government because they comprise “ill-gotten gains” that were “used in furtherance of, and were proceeds of, pervasive wire fraud, financial institution fraud, money laundering, and conspiracies perpetrated by the Defendant and others.”

Moving the forfeiture action to civil court makes the pending criminal forfeiture moot, prosecutors argued.

Accordingly, any motion under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) seeking the return of this same property in the criminal proceeding is now moot, and this Court no longer has jurisdiction to entertain such a motion. Those claiming an interest in the illegally obtained and illegally used Defendant Properties must pursue a remedy through the civil forfeiture proceedings.

Further, the attempt to block forfeiture of Miske’s assets was brought by Miske’s attorney’s on his behalf, rather than on behalf of his estate and beneficiaries.

But after Miske’s death, “the deceased Defendant…no longer has any property or privacy interests that might be impaired by the seizure or retention of the Defendant Properties. A decedent’s property interests pass to his heirs at the time of his death; those interests are not held by the decedent after death.”

As a result, prosecutors argue, neither Miske nor his defense attorneys have standing to challenge the asset forfeiture.

One additional point put forward by prosecutors is that the jury’s guilty verdict should be left standing and not vacated along with the indictments.

“Under the doctrine of abatement ab initio, it is the judgment of conviction, as opposed to the jury verdict, which is vacated along with the dismissal of the indictment,” prosecutors argue.

“The government has found no case in any jurisdiction in which a court has ordered that a jury verdict, as opposed to a judgment of conviction, be vacated under the doctrine of abatement ab initio.”

Miske’s defense has a February 7 deadline to file a reply to the government’s position. Federal Judge Derrick Watson, who has handled this case from the beginning, will then decide whether a hearing is necessary before issuing a ruling.

A quick update on a few Miske co-defendants

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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.”

Key leader in Waianae cockfighting case pleads guilty, two others also changing their pleas

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The alleged head of a cockfighting operation in Waianae that hosted chicken-fighting “derbies” attended by hundreds of people from across the island in semi-permanent facilities had pleaded guilty to drug and gambling charges.

Edward Caspino, 47, appeared before Federal Judge J. Michael Seabright and pleaded guilty to conspiring with others “to conduct, finance, manage, supervise, direct, and own an illegal gambling business,” and to one count of distributing about a pound of methamphetamine.

Cockfighting is apparently big business. As part of his plea agreement, Caspino agreed to forfeit $591,563 in cash seized from a Waianae home and a safe deposit box in the Waianae Branch of Bank of Hawaii. He also agreed to forfeit his interest in the property at 87-881 Iliili Road in Waianae, where the cockfighting derbies were held. The 10-acre property is appraised for real property tax purposes at $1,382,800.

The drug trafficking charge carries a minimum 10-year prison sentence with a maximum up to life in prison, while the gambling charge has a maximum 5-year prison term. Caspino is now awaiting sentencing.

Caspino’s mother, Lavern Joseph, and brother, William Caspino, were both also charged in the case. Joseph is scheduled to appear in court and plead guilty on Friday afternoon, January 10, while William Caspino is scheduled to appear at a change of plea hearing Monday afternoon (January 13).

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Accidental overdose? Mike Miske had no known history as a hard drug user

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Since the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office announced on Christmas Eve that convicted racketeering boss Michael J. Miske, Jr., appears to have died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl, a related illegal opioid, I’ve been asked dozens of times for my assessment of the situation.

An “accidental” overdose would mean he meant to get high and instead got a lethal dose of the drugs.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported: “The manner of Miske’s death “is still listed as pending,” the office said in a statement. “However, based on currently available information, the manner of death in this case appears to be accidental.”

The Medical Examiner did not disclose whether there what “currently available” evidence led them to this scenario, creating a fertile environment for public speculation.

Some have publicly speculated in online comments that Miske was killed in order to prevent him from revealing damaging information about other crime figures in what they assume would be his continued bargaining with federal prosecutors. However, in Miske’s case, the time for bargaining was past. Several of the crimes he was convicted of carry a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison, removing the possibility of bargaining for a lesser sentence. That is the primary reason that I would discount this scenario.

That leaves the most likely options as the medical examiner’s explanation that it was an accidental overdose, or suicide.

The accidental overdose scenario is not wholly satisfactory, because there is no indication Mike Miske had been a user of hard drugs.

In the seven years since I started reporting on Miske, including prior court records, lawsuits, about 70 FBI affidavits filed in support of search warrants during the investigation, various motions and legal documents filed by both federal prosecutors and Miske’s defense team, as well as testimony during the six-month trial, I don’t recall any evidence that Miske himself was a user of hard drugs. Although there was some evidence that he bought (and apparently sold) cocaine in half-pound quantities several times in the late 1990s, this was before he started his first business and launched the Kamaaina family of companies.

The jury also failed to find evidence of his direct involvement in drug trafficking, finding him not guilty on that charge. Further, when asked about several drug-related predicate crimes related to the racketeering conspiracy charge, the jury found Miske had not committed any acts of drug trafficking.

And then there was the testimony of two associates, Wayne Miller, and Alfredo Cabael, to the effect that Miske was angry about their drug addiction and pressed them to get clean. Cabael told the jury he had relapsed after completing drug treatment, and only reentered a rehab program after Miske gave him “an ultimatum.”

Both knew Miske frowned on their drug use, saw it as a danger to their criminal enterprise, and punished them when it continued.

On the other hand, Miske had been confined at the Federal Detention Center since his arrest in mid-July 2020. At the time of his death, he had been under lock and key nearly 4-1/2 years, and was looking at being moved into a federal prison after sentencing, where he would spend the rest of his life.

With such a bleak outlook, and the holiday season underway in the outside world, depression and thoughts of suicide can’t be dismissed, although it is not publicly known whether investigators have found any evidence to support this possiblity.

Coming soon: Part 2, Fentanyl in federal prisons.