Missteps lead to dismissal of sex trafficking case

Former death row inmate Isaiah McCoy heaped praise on his own legal skills Tuesday after federal prosecutors dropped their sex trafficking case against him.

Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway ordered McCoy’s immediate release.

“I am a legal scholar and expert. This is what I do, this is my calling,” McCoy said outside the federal courthouse while still dressed in brown inmate garb.

McCoy, 30, had been in custody at the Federal Detention Center with no opportunity for release on bond since his indictment and arrest in January.

The dismissal came in the middle of his trial on charges accusing him of trafficking seven women and one minor female for prostitution, producing child pornography and tampering with witnesses. McCoy chose to to be his own lawyer.

“For a pro se defendant to beat federal authorities is nothing short of extraordinary,” McCoy said.

“Pro se” is a Latin phrase that means “for one’s self” or “on one’s own behalf.” It is used to describe a person who represents himself in legal proceedings.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Brady told Mollway on Tuesday that the government was dismissing the case because the investigation did not meet law enforcement and his office’s standards.

Homeland Security Investigations, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, handled the investigation.

Brady told Mollway on Thursday that information he received from an HSI lawyer suggests that HSI Special Agent Cole Masutani lied when he testified earlier this month that he lost the cellphone he used to communicate by text messages with the alleged trafficking victims.

“Prosecutors have to trust their agents. And if their agents are not truthful and honest with them, they wind up holding the bag,” said veteran defense lawyer Michael Green.

Green, who was not involved in the case, said it is unheard of to have a federal prosecutor dismiss a case in the middle of trial against a defendant who is acting as his own lawyer. He said it is not a bad reflection on the U.S. attorney.

Fellow veteran defense lawyer Brook Hart agrees. Hart, who is also not involved in the case, said the U.S. attorney did the right thing by dismissing the case.

“I’m relieved to hear that Tom Brady took that position,” Hart said.

Brady’s boss, U.S. Attorney Kenji M. Price, said in a written statement, “Despite (the) dismissal, this office will continue the important work of investigating and prosecuting human trafficking crimes in Hawaii.”

McCoy said the U.S. attorney should have been monitoring and supervising Masutani.

“All of the prosecutors are responsible for what took place,” McCoy said.

He said he plans to sue the government for malicious prosecution, wrongful arrest and slander. He said the government framed him and rushed to prosecute him for speaking out against the state prosecuting his associate, Jordan Smith, in September’s fatal shooting outside a Waikiki nightclub.

McCoy’s wife, Tawana Roberts, was charged with trafficking one woman and the minor female. The government dropped the charge involving the woman after Masutani admitted on the witness stand in September that he failed to turn over 133 text messages between him and the woman and failed to keep records of their communications.

Roberts, 36, was released last month after the government, without explanation, dropped the charge involving the minor girl.

She was an Army staff sergeant at Schofield Barracks when Honolulu police arrested her in a prostitution sting in January. Honolulu police said they conducted the sting based on information provided to them by Masutani.

The Army discharged Roberts in May, while she was still in custody. She has 17 years of service in the Army and said she plans to fight her forced discharge.

A state jury in Delaware found McCoy guilty of a drug-related murder, and he was sentenced in 2012 to death. The Delaware Supreme Court overturned the conviction and sentence, and a state judge in the retrial found McCoy not guilty last year and set him free.

McCoy said federal authorities underestimated him when they chose to prosecute him for sex trafficking.

“They didn’t know that I was the architect of the appeal that got me off death row. I was the architect of the trial that ended in my release and freedom,” he said.