Question: Whatever happened to Gary Modafferi, the prominent Honolulu defense attorney and former deputy prosecutor who pleaded guilty in 1998 to distributing crystal methamphetamine and three years ago was reauthorized to practice law in Hawaii?
Answer: Modafferi reopened a law office in Honolulu but said he focuses mainly on a practice in Las Vegas.
Since last speaking with the Star-Advertiser in 2010, the reformed “ice” addict said he has become certified to handle death penalty cases and been involved in efforts to revamp Nevada’s medical marijuana law.
Modafferi worked for 11 years as a Honolulu deputy prosecutor and headed up the office’s Narcotics Division before becoming a criminal defense attorney in 1994 and eventually developing a drug problem.
In addition to operating his own law firm in Las Vegas, Modafferi said he works with defense firm Turco and Draskovich. He said he still concentrates almost exclusively on criminal defense cases and has recently been focusing on federal fraud and mortgage fraud cases.
Modafferi flew back to Honolulu earlier this year to meet with the Hawaii parole board, tasked with determining whether one of his first clients — Japanese national Raita Fukusaku — should receive a reduced sentence to make him eligible for parole.
Fukusaku was found guilty in 1995 of second-degree murder in the deaths of Japanese psychic Kototome Fujita and her son, Goro, in 1994. Since then he has been serving two back-to-back 20-year sentences at Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, where Hawaii sends some inmates due to a lack of cell space in the isles.
“We’re working on trying to adjust that and I think we’ll be filing something very soon in the appellate courts regarding his case,” Modafferi said in a telephone interview from his office in Las Vegas.
Modafferi resigned from the Hawaii bar in December 1998 in the wake of his drug conviction but was reinstated in 2010 after a lengthy investigation and interview process. He told the Star-Advertiser in 2010 that he was cleared to take the Nevada bar exam in 2003 but first had to regain his privilege to practice law in Hawaii.
Modafferi served his 90-day sentence in Yankton Federal Prison Camp in South Dakota and completed 800 hours of community service with a substance abuse program in San Francisco. The rest of his sentence included a $10,000 fine, three years of supervised release, and six months under house arrest.
After successfully completing treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in San Francisco in 2002, Modafferi moved to Las Vegas and began working for prominent Nevada attorney Dominic Gentile.
In 2004, he became a legal researcher for the law firm Cristalli and Saggese and participated in the defense of Sandra Murphy, who was acquitted of the murder of casino executive Ted Binion.
Modafferi said he now has three daughters — Emi, 10, Maci, 7, and Mia, 21⁄2 — and plans to wed his fiancee soon.
“Everything’s good,” he said.
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This update was written by Sarah Zoellick. Suggest a topic for “Whatever Happened To…” by writing the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4747; or email cityeditors@staradvertiser.com.
