Fidelity toward Honolulu’s criminal prosecutors goes back nearly three decades, and incumbent chief Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro has been a recipient of loyalty by some, but is seen as an antagonist by others. Since returning to his present job two years ago, Kaneshiro has made the office a key player in law enforcement public policy. For his longterm effective dedication to public safety and criminal prosecution, he should be retained.
Kaneshiro has been lukewarm to a Justice Reinvestment Initiative — a laudable program that would reduce the overcrowded prison population without compromising safety — warning that it should await enough probation and parole officers in place, which is understandable from his perspective.
Meanwhile, he has obtained $2.3 million from the city for a Family Justice Center for transitional housing for domestic violence victims, an important initiative worthy of support.
He also has reached out by organizing a summit with prosecutors from eight countries and mainland jurisdictions to lay the groundwork to combat trafficking of crystal methamphetamine. His zeal and effort to fight the drug pipeline internationally is commendable.
Kaneshiro was a deputy prosecutor from 1978 to 1983 and successfully unseated Prosecutor Charles Marsland in the 1988 election.
Kaneshiro did not run for a third term in 1996, and Marsland loyalist Peter Carlisle, who was among a dozen deputies Kaneshiro had forced to resign, was elected to the prosecutor job. Carlisle deflected a 2004 election challenge by Kaneshiro.
When Carlisle ran successfully for mayor two years ago, Kaneshiro, who had been state public safety director for two years under the Lingle administration, then a private security consultant, was elected back as prosecutor.
Kaneshiro’s present rival for city prosecutor is Kevin Takata, a deputy prosecutor for 23 years, who was among 11 deputies Kaneshiro declined to keep aboard.
Kaneshiro said he made that decision because of Takata’s advice to the parole board in one case that a prison convict was innocent and, in another case, Takata’s advice to a jury to convict a defendant charged with murder of a lesser offense, and the panel agreed. Kaneshiro says he was "upset."
Some deputy prosecutors have left his office, Kaneshiro says, because he would not tolerate employees showing up for work late and leaving early. Also, some had neglected cases that had to be dropped for failing to abide by the statute of limitations. Handing out walking papers in such cases is justifiable use of his authority.
Aggression within the judicial system is to be expected of the prosecutor’s office, and Kaneshiro undoubtedly is energetic in fulfilling that obligation for the public’s safety.
