Attorney General Seeks Immediate Suspension of the Honolulu Prosecutor
News Release from Office of the Attorney General, Feb 12, 2019
HONOLULU – Attorney General Clare E. Connors today filed a petition with the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court seeking to suspend Keith Kaneshiro from practicing law as the Honolulu Prosecutor.
“Mr. Kaneshiro’s purported status as the target of a federal criminal investigation creates a conflict of interest prohibited under the rules of professional conduct,” said Attorney General Connors. “His refusal to address the conflict by taking leave of his public office has necessitated the filing of this petition.”
Attorney General Connors has asked the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court to suspend Mr. Kaneshiro until the conflict of interest is resolved and the appearance of impropriety no longer exists.
A copy of the petition can be found here.
FULL TEXT PDF: PETITION FOR EXTRAORDINARY WRIT
Link: SCPW-19-0000088 Connors v Kaneshiro
COVERAGE:
Women say city prosecutor retaliated against them for testifying in corruption probe
HNN: … The women, who asked that their names not be used, say they were both grand jury witnesses in the federal public corruption case that’s targeting Kaneshiro after receiving subpoenas compelling them to appear.
One woman, who works at the domestic violence safe house run by the city Prosecutor’s Office, says she was summoned after other employees turned in surveillance video from the safe house’s administrative office.
“They asked me who was in the video, what was happening,” she told Hawaii News Now.
The video appears to show workers shredding documents. Also in the video, safe house Director Libby Lee Hobbs is seen placing a video of paper over the camera lens to obscure the image. …
Attorney Megan Kau, a former prosecutor and legal expert, says the women’s stories are exactly why Kaneshiro needs to be on administrative leave.
“Once he sent those disciplinary notices to those employees, signed them, and said you are hereby put on notice, I think it’s moved over to tampering with a witness or obstruction of justice,” she said.
Kau added that situation also puts the city and taxpayers at risk.
“It opens that office up to wrongful termination, whistleblower claims, a multitude of lawsuits that can be brought against him and the city,” she said.
The only agency that can force Kaneshiro to leave office, according to the charter, is the state Attorney General’s office….
read … Women say city prosecutor retaliated against them for testifying in corruption probe
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