Now that the jury verdict is in, here’s the “not quite final” listing of my reporting on the Miske case.

This covers what I’ve written from January 1, 2024 through today, July 20, 2024.

It’s a reminder of how deep and complex this case, and my reporting, has been.

And this wrap-up is, I suppose, for the record.

Before the trial began, I knew that I would be unable to “cover” the proceedings over the estimated 6+ months. At best, I could stop in from time to time. Before long, several people volunteered to be trial observers and take notes at least one day every couple of weeks. On most days, there were no reporters present at the trial, and our volunteer observations provided at least an informal record to draw on.

This draft is limited to the stories that were published by Civil Beat, many of which appeared first here at iLind.net. Over the next few days, I’ll go back and insert other blog posts so that the listing is complete. Until then, it is a work in progress.

“The Miske Case: Interesting Names On The Witness List,” Civil Beat, January 8, 2024

“Miske’s Daughter-In-Law Agrees To ‘Fully Cooperate’ In Last-Minute Plea Deal,” Civil Beat, January 12, 2024

“Miske Is Set To Stand Trial Alone When His Brother Takes A Last-Minute Deal,” Civil Beat, January 21, 2024

“Former Miske Co-Defendant Is Back In Federal Custody After A Waikiki Brawl,” Civil Beat, February 6, 2024

“A Bar Fight Could Cost A Former Miske Co-Defendant His Kaneohe Home,” Civil Beat, February 6, 2024

“The Miske Trial: A Honolulu Used Car Dealer Gets Roughed Up,” Civil Beat, March 11, 2024

“The Miske Trial: Muscle And Money/Importing and selling illegal fireworks in Hawaii made millions of dollars for Mike Miske, a witness testified last week,” Civil Beat, March 17, 2024

“The Miske Trial: Testimony Ties Mike Miske To A Robbery Gone Bad In Which A Young Man Died,” Civil Beat, April 26, 2024

“The Miske Trial: Witnesses Describe Bank Transactions,” Civil Beat, May 12, 2024

“The Miske Trial: How An Accused Crime Boss Fooled The State To Get A Motor Vehicle Dealer License,” Civil Beat, May 19, 2024

“The Miske Trial: Key Cooperating Witness Says Working For Miske Made Him Feel Protected,” Civil Beat, ay 21, 2024

“The Miske Trial: The Prosecution Rests,” Civil Beat, June 6, 2024

“The Miske Trial: Interesting Moments From The Organized Crime Trial,” Civil Beat, June 18, 2024

“The Miske Trial: The Accident That Led To Mike Miske’s Downfall,” Civil Beat, July 19, 2024

A look back at my reporting on the Miske case from Day 1

Part 1: November 29, 2020

Part 2: June 9, 2021

Part 3: September 15, 2021

Part 4: October 7, 2022

Part 5: December 31, 2023

The Miske jury yesterday found the former owner of Kamaaina Termite and Pest Control, and a string of other smaller businesses, guilty of 13 of the 16 charges he was facing.

Three charges had been dismissed earlier, one withdrawn by the government, and two others successfully challenged by Miske’s attorneys.

So what are the charges where the jury found him not guilty?

> Count 4. Murder-for-Hire Conspiracy Resulting in Death (18 u.s.c. § 1958).

In short, the government charged “MISKE agreed with others to pay cash and other things of pecuniary value in exchange for the murder of Johnathan Fraser…which arrangements depended in part upon communications by cellular telephones operating on interstate networks, and which resulted in the death of Fraser on or about July 30, 2016.”

What’s interesting here is at the same time, the jury found Miske guilty of four crimes related to Fraser’s murder: Count 2, Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Count 3, Conspiracy to Commit Murder in Aid of Racketeering; Count 5, Kidnapping Using a Facility of Interstate Commerce Resulting in Death; and Count 6, Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping Using a Facility of Interstate Commerce.

So what’s different about Count 4, where the jury found him “not guilty?” It appears while jurors were convinced Fraser had been killed and Miske was responsible, they apparently did not feel the government had shown “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Miske had paid to have it done.

> Count 15: Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess With Intent to Distribute Cocaine (21 U.S.C. § 846).

This charge stems from a July 2014 drug deal in which Wayne Miller and Michael Buntenbah flew to California with suitcases of cash to purchase about 10 kilos of cocaine, allegedly using cash that Miske provided. The drug buy was broken up after the money was exchanged for drugs, and the two were being driven from the Los Angeles area to the San Francisco airport, where Buntenbah allegedly had a contact able to get the drugs through the TSA’s airport screening.

Miske was secretly indicted on this drug trafficking charge in July 2019, although the indictment was sealed at that time. A new indictment file a year later, in June 2020, added multiple charges and ten co-defendants to the case against Miske.

Count 15 of this superseding indictment incorporated the substance of the 2019 indictment involving the July 2014 attempted drug deal. Drug dealing was also at the center of several earlier investigations that had targeted Miske.

There are another point where the jury showed their view that Miske’s involvement in drugs had not been proven.

In Count 1, Racketeering Conspiracy, jurors were asked to consider 14 categories of crimes considered as “predicates” for the racketeering charge. To find Miske guilty of the racketeering conspiracy, jurors had to find Miske and others had agreed to carry out two or more acts of racketeering involving one or more of the 14 categories.

Category #8 is “Trafficking in Controlled Substances.” For this category, the jury found that no acts of drug trafficking had been proved.

For the category of “Murder,” the jury found that one act had been agreed to, presumably the murder of Johnny Fraser.

And for all other categories, jurors found 2 or more acts had been agreed to in each category.

In all, the jury found at least 25 acts of racketeering had been agreed to, even without drug trafficking. They only needed to find 2 acts taking place within a 10 year period to find Miske guilty of racketeering conspiracy.

Miske’s lead defense attorney, Michael Kennedy, appears to have effectively challenged witnesses who tied Miske to their drug deals. He argued that the drug trafficking was for their benefit, and that Miske was not involved. It was, it seems, just enough to create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors, although in the scheme of things, this turned out not to matter.

Count 20, Bank fraud, alleged that during April 2017, Miske had conspired with others to submit “materially false documents” to Bank of Hawaii in order to obtain business loans for the purchase of several trucks. Again, jurors found Miske “not guilty” of this charge.

To obtain the loans, two Miske employees, one described as basically an “errand boy,” were reclassified as “managers” on business registration forms filed with the state. The defense pounded on the ambiguity of the “manager” category used by the state as reported by limited liability companies. Does managing a single employee make one a manager? Perhaps, they seemed to argue. In addition, Miske himself didn’t sign off on the paperwork filed with the state, so there may have been sufficient reasonable doubt about his role directing the changes, and preparing the fraudulent loan documents, for a guilty finding.

News that the jury had reached a verdict was texted by the clerk of the federal court Thursday afternoon at 1:42 p.m.

Word spread fast. By 3 p.m., there was a crowd waiting for the doors to Judge Derrick Watson’s courtroom to be unlocked, and when the doors opened, they quickly filled the available seats.

The jury verdict was read in court a few minutes after 3:30 p.m.

At 7:43 Thursday night, a reader commented about the absence of a post here about the verdict. “No lead story!! Are you fast asleep with Joe Biden with permanent terminal Loooooooong Covid!”

Well, let me explain. This was one of those events in the long course of this prosecution that was very well covered by a number of other reporters. Since they’re getting paid, and I’m not, I decided to let them do the deadline writing and report the verdict. And that’s exactly what happened.

Here’s some of the stories published as of this morning. Take your pick. And you can check out Google News for more reporting as stories are published.

“Honolulu crime boss Miske guilty of murder, racketeering,” Peter Boylan, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

“Jury Convicts Miske Of 13 Counts, Including Murder In Aid Of Racketeering,” Madeleine Valera, Honolulu Civil Beat

“Mike Miske guilty on 13 counts in criminal enterprise trial, including murder and kidnapping,” Lynn Kawano, Ben Gutierrez and Daryl Huff, Hawaii News Now

“Michael Miske found guilty of murder, racketeering in criminal conspiracy trial,” Kristen Consillio, KITV4

“Honolulu businessman convicted in major racketeering and murder-for-hire case,” Kaya Rivera, Courthouse News

“Family, friends react to crime kingpin Miske guilty verdict,” Jen Boneza, KHON2

At the end of closing arguments last week in the trial of Mike Miske, the defendants lead attorney, Michael Kennedy, made an oral motion asking the Judge Derrick Watson for a judgment of acquittal. Kennedy argued that the government had failed to present sufficient evidence to support most of the charges.

At 4:20 p.m. Monday afternoon, Watson ordered attorneys to submit supplemental briefs pointing to specific evidence admitted in the case that supports “each of the challenged elements and/or issues.”

Watson’s order is basically a demand that prosecutors justify their general assertion that there is “sufficient evidence” to support each of the remaining charges.

This is the second motion for a directed judgment of acquittal. A similar motion was made last month when the government rested its case in chief.

At that time, Judge Watson denied the motion as to most of the charges, although it was granted on two charges stemming from the ambush of Lindsey Kinney at Kualoa Ranch in 2017.

Watson’s order spelled out the legal standard.

Rule 29(a) provides that, after the close of the government’s evidence, “the court on the defendant’s motion must enter a judgment of acquittal of any offense for which the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.” The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has explained that, when facing a sufficiency of the evidence challenge, a court should consider “whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The latest motion challenged Counts 1,4, 10-11, 15, and 21 in the Third Superseding Indictment on general grounds of insufficient evidence.

Count 1. Racketeering conspiracy

Count 4. Murder-for-hire conspiracy resulting in death [Fraser murder]

Count 10. Conspiracy to Commit assault in aid of racketeering

Count 11. Conspiracy to commit kidnapping [Accountant Robert Lee’s kidnapping]

Count 15. Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine [2014 cocaine deal]

Count 21. Obstruction of justice [fraudulent letter]

However, each of these were included in an earlier motion for acquittal made last month after the government rested its case in chief. Judge Watson had denied that motion as to these counts, finding in each case sufficient evidence had been presented, although he granted the motion as to the two counts stemming from the ambush of Lindsey Kinney at Kualoa Ranch in 2017.

Since nothing has changed since the earlier motion was denied, it is likely Watson will again rule against acquitting on these charges.

But the current motion also challenged additional charges on specific grounds.

Count 2 (Murder in aid of racketeering in the Fraser case) and Count 3 (conspiracy to commit the Fraser murder) are being challenged because, Kennedy argues, the “purpose element” was not established.

Here’s what the final set of jury instructions say is needed to be proven regarding “purpose.”

With respect to the fourth element, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant’s “purpose” was to gain entrance to, or to maintain, or to increase his position in the enterprise. It is not necessary for the government to prove that this motive was the Defendant’s sole purpose, or even the primary purpose, in committing the charged crime. You need only find that enhancing his status in the enterprise was a substantial purpose of the Defendant or that he committed the charged crime as an integral aspect of membership in the enterprise. In determining the Defendant’s purpose in committing the alleged crime, you must determine what he had in mind. Because you cannot look into a person’s mind, you have to determine purpose by considering all the facts and circumstances before you.

The motion then challenges two additional charges (Counts 5 and 6), both related to the alleged kidnapping of Johnny Fraser. Miske’s motion argues that the government failed to prove that he was kidnapped.

It also challenges Count 7, the alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy targeting Joe Boy Tavares. The motion argues that the government “did not establish that Miske offered cash to John Stancil and Dae Han Moon in exchange for their agreement to murder Joy Boy Tavares.”

And, finally, the motion attacks Count 22, one of two counts alleging that Miske took part in putting together fraudulent character reference letters that were submitted during a hearing seeking his release on bond. The motion argues that the letter at issue was “not altered so as to obstruct justice.”

Watson’s order gave the attorneys until the close of business on Friday to file supplemental briefs of up to five pages “citing evidence admitted during the trial that supports the arguments and/or representations made at the July 2, 2024 hearing regarding Count 2-3, 5-7, and 22. Should the parties rely upon trial testimony, they must provide specific line and page citations to the relevant transcript(s).”