The distributor of arcade machines, deemed gambling devices by a federal judge, and two former arcade owners pleaded not guilty Tuesday to state racketeering and gambling promotion charges.
A trial for Tracy Yoshi-mura, 53, Eugene Simeona Jr., 44, and Michael Miller Jr., 42, is scheduled for August.
This is the second time the three men are answering the charges in state court. The city Department of the Prosecuting Attorney in 2014 dropped the same charges as well as other charges after admitting it presented false testimony to the grand jury that returned a 414-count indictment against Yoshimura, Simeona, Miller and six arcade workers.
A new grand jury in January re-indicted the six arcade workers. Alexander Alejandro, Quentin Canencia, Gary Danley, Desiree Haina, Michael Madali Jr. and Clayton Simeona were charged with racketeering and gambling promotion. Prosecutors secured an indictment against Yoshi-mura, Eugene Simeona and Miller on Feb. 24. There are 59 charges included in the two indictments.
The original indictment included misdemeanor gambling promotion and gambling device possession charges, for which the statute of limitations has expired, as well as money laundering charges.
Canencia, Danley, Haina, Madali and Clayton Simeona turned themselves in days after being re-indicted, and their trial has been set for August. Police have yet to arrest Alejandro.
The prosecutor’s office asked the court to keep the indictment against Yoshimura, Eugene Simeona and Miller under seal. Honolulu police didn’t notify the defendants and their lawyers about the indictment and arrest warrants until May 19.
The prosecutor’s office and the Honolulu Police Department declined to offer an explanation as to why it took so long to arrest the defendants.
The U.S. and state constitutions guarantee a right to a speedy trial to those accused of crimes. Hawaii courts have interpreted “speedy” as requiring trials to commence within six months of the filing of charges. That means the state has less than half that time left to take Yoshimura, Simeona and Miller to trial or face having the charges dismissed.
Yoshimura’s lawyer, Myles Breiner, says the defendants do not intend to agree to give the state any more time.
“The prosecution is responsible for delaying the release of the indictment in this case,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha was the lead prosecutor and one of two deputy prosecutors who presented the 2014 case to the grand jury. She also presented the case the second time, resulting in the January and February indictments.
Deputy Prosecutor Tim Tate appeared in court Tuesday on behalf of the state. Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro declined to comment on Kealoha’s role in the current case.
Breiner announced last month that he is representing Kealoha and her husband, Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, because of a federal grand jury investigation into wrongdoing at the Honolulu Police Department.
The Hawaii Supreme Court’s Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit lawyers from representing a client if the representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest. The rules say a conflict exists if the representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client or there is a significant risk that the representation of one or more clients will be materially limited by the lawyer’s responsibilities to another client.
Breiner declined to comment on a possible conflict of interest in representing Katherine Kealoha and Yoshimura at the same time.
In June 2014 he filed papers asking the court to disqualify Kealoha from Yoshimura’s case because of her employment as a city deputy prosecutor and her marriage to the police chief.
Separately, Yoshimura and some of the other defendants in the criminal case sued Kaneshiro, HPD and Kealoha’s husband for the return of 77 arcade machines seized by police in 2012. The machines are the same machines at the center of the current criminal case.
By the time Breiner asked for the disqualification, a federal judge had already decided not to order the return of the machines. The state court later dismissed the criminal case, at the prosecutors’ request, without deciding whether to disqualify Kealoha.
Breiner was not involved in the lawsuit against Kaneshiro and HPD. He is involved, however, in another lawsuit against Chief Kealoha.
He represents two men suing the city and Kealoha for the injuries and violation of rights they suffered when an on-duty police officer assaulted them in an illegal gambling house. The officer, Vincent Morre, resigned after pleading guilty and is serving a 30-month federal prison term.
Breiner also represents a woman who, along with another former Honolulu police officer, is charged in state court with selling cocaine and illegally distributing prescription drugs. The deputy prosecutor handling the case is Katherine Kealoha.
