Letter: Precedent for AG’s actions on Kaneshiro

Feb. 15, 2019

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DENNIS ODA / 2017

Keith Kaneshiro received a “target letter” from federal prosecutors in December informing him that he is a target of a grand jury investigation tied to the corruption case against former city Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha and her husband, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha.

Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro is entitled to due process before anyone concludes he did anything wrong (“Hawaii attorney general petitions for Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro’s suspension,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 13).

But his attorney, Bill McCorriston, is incorrect when claiming there is no precedent for the attorney general’s petition seeking his suspension. The attorney general cited cases I argued before the Hawaii Supreme Court in the 1970s successfully removing the prosecuting attorney from investigating his boss, Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi, in the Kukui Plaza case.

The law enforcement authority of the prosecutor, the Supreme Court ruled, was derived from the attorney general. We will soon learn if the Supreme Court deems that law still valid.

Michael A. Lilly

Former Hawaii attorney general

Pacific Heights

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