The trial of former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro is delayed until March 12 while a new federal judge steps in to oversee the public corruption prosecution.

On Jan. 24, Timothy M. Burgess, Senior U.S. District Judge for the District of Alaska was appointed to “temporarily perform the duties” of U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright who recused himself in January.

The trial was scheduled to begin Feb. 27.

In response to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser question about why he recused himself from the Kaneshiro case, Seabright, through the clerk of the federal court, declined comment.

Kaneshiro, Dennis Mitsunaga, and four Mitsu­naga & Associates executives were indicted in June 2022 for allegedly conspiring to charge a former Mitsunaga employee with felony theft.

Mitsunaga, 78; Kaneshiro, 72; Terri Ann Otani, 66; Aaron Shunichi Fujii, 64; Chad Michael McDonald, 50; and Sheri Jean Tanaka all entered pleas of not guilty.

Seabright presided over the case since a federal grand jury indicted Kaneshiro and four others in 2022, alleging that employees of an engineering and architectural firm bribed the prosecutor with campaign donations in exchange for Kaneshiro’s prosecution of a former company employee.

All five have pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the city and one count of conspiracy to intimidate the former employee to prevent her from exercising her rights by filing a civil rights lawsuit against the firm. The first count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and the second count is 10 years.