Hawaii Supreme Court bars Katherine Kealoha from practicing law
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Former city deputy prosecutor Katherine Kealoha attends a hearing at Federal Court on Friday when she was taken into custody until her October sentencing. The state Supreme Court today barred her from practicing law.
More bad news for Katherine Kealoha.
The Hawaii Supreme Court today immediately suspended the former Honolulu deputy prosecutor from practicing law in Hawaii after a federal jury last week unanimously convicted her and her husband, retired Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, and two other HPD officers of four counts of conspiracy and three counts of obstruction.
The Supreme Court’s decision followed a petition by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
In a two-page ruling, the court noted that the indictment against Kealoha “clearly establishes the crimes of which Respondent Kealoha was convicted involved dishonesty, and further notes that at least three of the counts of which Respondent Kealoha was convicted constitute felonies.”
The Disciplinary Board of the Hawaii Supreme Court will hold “formal disciplinary proceedings … once these convictions become final,” according to the court’s order.
Kealoha is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
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Last week a federal jury unanimously convicted the Kealohas, HPD officer Minh-Hung “Bobby” Nguyen and HPD Lt. Derek Wayne Hahn on each of four felony counts of conspiracy and three felony counts of obstruction. They face a maximum of 20 years in prison for obstruction convictions and up to five years for conspiracy convictions.
Only Katherine Kealoha was ordered into custody at the Federal Detention Center on Friday after a federal prosecutor called her “a walking crime spree.”
