BRUCE ASATO / FEB. 13
Katherine Kealoha’s trial has been postponed for two months due to illness. Above, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha accompanies Katherine across Halekauwila Street on her way to Federal Court.
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Former Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha has gotten another trial delayed for medical reasons. This time it is to undergo treatment for an undisclosed
cancer.
U.S. District Chief Judge J. Michael Seabright granted Kealoha’s request to postpone her conspiracy and obstruction trial for two months.
Kealoha; her husband,
retired Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha; and three
former members of the
Honolulu Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Unit were scheduled to stand trial later this month starting with jury selection March 18.
Seabright continued the trial Monday to May 15 following a closed courtroom discussion with Katherine Kealoha’s oncologist. He ruled that Kealoha will probably not be able to participate meaningfully in a trial while undergoing cancer treatment. Seabright also postponed the trial for the other defendants. He said that because Kealoha is a central figure in the charges for the rest of the defendants, it doesn’t make sense to hold two separate trials.
The lawyers for Louis
Kealoha, Derek Wayne Hahn, Minh-Hung “Bobby” Nguyen and Gordon Shiraishi told Seabright they preferred going to trial this month, even if Katherine Kealoha wasn’t part of it. Louis Kealoha’s lawyer said other family members will be with Katherine Kealoha during her treatment.
The court already had sent juror questionnaires to 1,500 people, from which
481 were scheduled to show up at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center for further screening. The postponement requires the court to start the process all over and send out another 1,500 questionnaires.
This is the second Kealoha trial to get postponed for medical reasons. The
Kealohas were scheduled to stand trial in November on bank fraud charges. A U.S. magistrate judge rescheduled that trial to June after reviewing 43 pages of Katherine Kealoha’s medical records. It’ll probably get rescheduled again because the conspiracy and obstruction trial is expected to run at least seven weeks.
The bank fraud charges accuse the Kealohas of getting loans, including mortgages on their home, by lying on their loan applications. The conspiracy and obstruction charges accuse the Kealohas and the other defendants of staging the theft of the Kealohas’ mailbox, framing a Kealoha relative for the crime and lying about it to cover up their
actions.
