Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro’s request to have an impeachment petition against him thrown out on procedural grounds was denied Monday.

William McCorriston, Kaneshiro’s lawyer, argued that the Hawaii Circuit Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case because the impeachment petition submitted to the court by Oahu businessman Tracy Yoshimura did not include 500 physical signatures as required under the Honolulu City Charter.

As he was leaving Monday’s hearing, McCorriston said that he is considering an appeal.

In a written statement later Monday, McCorriston said he is “perplexed” by Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree’s ruling. “I strongly believe that required procedures were not followed in the filing of either the original Petition or the First Amended Petition,” he said. “We are considering options for the path forward.”

Yoshimura wants Kaneshiro impeached because he is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which Yoshimura contends has cast a cloud over the city Department of the Prosecuting Attorney and the cases prosecuted under Kaneshiro’s authority.

Kaneshiro has been on paid leave from his $170,712-a-year job since March 7. He stepped down after being notified last year that he was a target of a federal investigation into government corruption. Kaneshiro had been the boss of former city Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, who is on trial in one of two federal public corruption cases against her.

McCorriston said state law is clear that the signatures of 500 registered voters need to be submitted as a precondition for filing an impeachment petition to the Hawaii Supreme Court, and the original petition filed in December only has one: Yoshimura’s.

“That is required for the court to assume subject matter jurisdiction over the petition,” McCorriston argued. “Wherever it exists — I don’t know if it’s on a cloud, I don’t know if it’s on the internet, I don’t know if it’s on (Yoshimura’s) kitchen table. Wherever this illusory petition with 500 signatures is, you don’t have it before you in this case as required.”

McCorriston said it also hasn’t been determined whether the signatures Yoshimura did collect were from valid Oahu voters.

But Keith Kiuchi, Yoshimura’s attorney, said he included in his submittal a spreadsheet with the names of more than 800 people who signed the online petition on change.org.

The language of the petition was very specific, “and then we attached the spreadsheet showing the electronic signatures, the names (and) the location of where these individuals are,” Kiuchi said. “All of that was attached to the initial petition. The idea that 500 signatures have to be attached to any petition to be filed with the court is kind of absurd.”

The situation is unique because this is the first petition to be filed electronically. “There’s no case law, there’s nothing to follow,” Kiuchi said. “And that’s what makes this case so difficult.”

Kiuchi has stated previously that neither he nor Yoshimura has received clear instruction from city Clerk Glen Takahashi or city attorneys on what’s required of an electronic submittal.

In April, Deputy Corporation Counsel Moana Yost said Takahashi will only accept handwritten signatures in any petition seeking to remove Kaneshiro. The petitioners have been told that “the petition requires a legible full name, a handwritten signature and a resident’s address,” Yost told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser after a hearing.

Crabtree is scheduled to hear arguments June 24 on whether Yoshimura should be allowed to file an amended petition with the court.

Kaneshiro is two years into a four-year term voters gave him in 2016.