The effort to remove Keith Kaneshiro as city prosecutor suffered a small setback Thursday when the Hawaii Supreme Court rejected a request to require a lower court judge to reopen the impeachment case that he dismissed.
Keith Kiuchi, attorney for the Oahu businessman leading the impeachment, said he will now go through the standard appeal process. The deadline for that appeal to be filed is today.
The writ of mandamus request rejected Thursday would have required Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree to reconsider his decision several months ago to dismiss the petition against Kaneshiro. Crabtree said the petition, comprised primarily of electronic signatures, which the city says it does not have to accept, did not provide sufficient grounds for him to hear the case.
The high court’s two-page decision said, “It appears the petitioner fails to demonstrate a clear and indisputable right to the requested relief.”
Kiuchi said he and his client, businessman Tracy Yoshimura, are disappointed but not surprised. Yoshimura had sought reconsideration of Crabtree’s decision because he is racing to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to have Kaneshiro’s replacement decided through a special election, Kiuchi said.
A decision on an appeal likely would not be made until after Dec. 31. The Honolulu City Charter says if Kaneshiro were to be impeached or otherwise leave in the same year his term expires, he would have to be replaced by the first deputy prosecuting attorney, currently Acting Director Dwight Nadamoto. The charter says if the vacancy occurs outside of that year, the voters get to decide who fills the term in a special election that would take place separate from the standard 2020 election process.
William McCorriston, Kaneshiro’s attorney, said the court made the right decision. “Mr. Yoshimura chose not to pursue his appeal, which was the appropriate remedy, and we consider this another example of how he and his attorney have unsuccessfully pursued the remedy,” he said.
Crabtree, in rejecting the original impeachment petition, said the roughly 500 names on it were obtained electronically and in a manner that allowed the signatures to be verified. Yoshimura and Kiuchi have voiced frustration that city attorneys and the city clerk’s office have been slow to explain what they will accept.
Yoshimura, while awaiting the final outcome of his original petition, is moving forward with a second petition, using a different platform to gather signatures, which he believes will pass muster. The second petition also takes into consideration new information discovered during the federal case against former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katherine Kealoha and her husband, ex-Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha.
Yoshimura wants Kaneshiro impeached because he is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the vast corruption probe that landed the convictions of both Kealohas. Kaneshiro was Katherine Kealoha’s boss. Yoshimura contends the investigation has cast a cloud over the city Department of the Prosecuting Attorney and the cases prosecuted under Kaneshiro’s authority.
Kaneshiro has been on paid leave from his $170,712-a-year job since March 7. He stepped down after being notified last year that he was a target of a federal investigation.
Meantime, Yoshimura is also asking state Attorney General Clare Connors to weigh in on whether electronic signatures should be allowed. Yoshimura has argued that they should be considered since the state and city allow electronic voter registration, and that state election law indicates they should be allowed.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the process for replacing a prosecuting attorney who leaves office within a year of the end of his term. The Honolulu City Charter states the first deputy prosecuting attorney would fill the vacancy under that scenario.
