Sheri Tanaka, who is charged in the pay-to-play conspiracy case against former Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, remains on bail after appearing Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathaniel M. Cousins because the U.S. Probation and Parole Office asked for a review of her release.
The hearing was requested after agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Arizona and Hawaii reportedly was told by an informant that Tanaka allegedly paid cash to someone to kill U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat.
Tanaka, an attorney, has not been arrested in connection with the murder-for-hire allegation. She remains free ahead of her March 12 trial in the conspiracy case.
Her attorneys argued Friday that Tanaka did not hire anyone to assassinate the federal judge and assistant U.S. Attorney, and was instead the victim of an extortion scheme.
“There is not evidence to change any of the conditions of pretrial supervision,” Cousins said after hearing from all parties on the review of the terms of Tanaka’s release.
“We just had that hearing. And the government presented no evidence to show that Ms. Tanaka threatened anybody, tried to harm anybody or posed a danger to anybody. Magistrate Judge Cousins correctly reached the only possible conclusion: the government failed to show that Ms. Tanaka is a danger. So she remains free on bail,” said Mark Mermelstein, one of Tanaka’s attorneys, in a statement.
“Instead, the unrebutted evidence at the hearing showed that Ms. Tanaka was a victim of an extortion scheme. She believed that bad people were coming for her and her family, and paid money to the extortionists to stop them. It appears that an informant told the government that this payment was for something else entirely.”
The investigation of the alleged murder-for-hire plot began in December, and a search warrant was executed at a Honolulu business Jan. 23 in connection with the case. Tanaka’s electronic devices were seized along with other evidence.
Wheat is prosecuting Tanaka, Kaneshiro, businessman Dennis Mitsunaga and others for allegedly conspiring to frame a former Mitsunaga employee for theft after she sued the company for discrimination.
Seabright was the judge presiding over the case, but he recused himself in January without offering an explanation. He declined comment Friday. Wheat did not respond to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shauna Prewitt, from San Diego, declined comment after Friday’s hearing.
In court Friday, Prewitt said she asked whether any of the potential targets in the case wished to address the court, and both declined. She also noted the investigation was not part of her federal jurisdiction.
Mermelstein criticized Hawaii News Now, which reported Thursday night about the investigation into the alleged murder-for-hire plot. He said the plot “never happened.”
”Ms. Tanaka’s trial is scheduled to start in two weeks. Irresponsible stories like these will taint the jury pool and make a fair trial difficult if not impossible,” Mermelstein said in his statement. “Ms. Tanaka wants Judge Seabright to know that she did not and would not ever seek to harm him or any other judicial officer or anyone else. Ms. Tanaka looks forward to her trial and the opportunity to clear her name.”
