HILO — Pretrial motions filed by lawyers representing Mayor Billy Kenoi in his felony theft case accuse the state attorney general’s office of leaking confidential information to a Honolulu television news outlet and claim the leaks were intended to prejudice
HILO — Pretrial motions filed by lawyers representing Mayor Billy Kenoi in his felony theft case accuse the state attorney general’s office of leaking confidential information to a Honolulu television news outlet and claim the leaks were intended to prejudice the grand jurors who indicted the mayor and the prospective jury pool for his upcoming trial.
Three motions seeking to dismiss all charges in the March 23 indictment, and another seeking the dismissal of the two felony theft charges contained in the indictment, were filed Aug. 8 by Honolulu attorney Todd Eddins. The charges stem from the mayor’s misuse of a county-issued credit card, or pCard.
The attorney general’s investigation started after West Hawaii Today reported Kenoi used his pCard to pay an $892 tab at Club Evergreen, a Honolulu hostess bar. Other purchases included a surfboard and a bicycle.
In total, the mayor tallied almost $130,000 in charges on the credit card between January 2009 and March 2015.
Kenoi reimbursed the county for $22,292 in personal charges between those dates. He later paid back approximately $9,500 more after Big Island newspapers published their stories examining his pCard use.
A hearing on the motions is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sept. 16 in Hilo.
According to the filings, a Feb. 21 story by Hawaii News Now reporter Rick Daysog stating a plea deal had been offered to Kenoi and that it was being “mulled or considered” by defense resulted from “the leak of highly sensitive, privileged, and confidential information (that) originated from the Department of the Attorney General.”
Also mentioned was a March 14 story, also by Daysog, reporting the grand jury would meet March 23 that “revealed secret and confidential details regarding grand jury proceedings,” according to the documents. Among the details were the prosecution would “seek to demonstrate that Kenoi only reimbursed charges on his county purchasing card after he was warned or told to return the money; and … the Department of the Attorney General’s strategy was to select clearly wrong and easy to prove transactions for prosecution.”
One motion alleges “the Department of the Attorney General deliberately contaminated the proceedings” and asked for a dismissal of the indictment with prejudice — which means prosecutors cannot refile charges — citing the attorney general’s “intentional leak of privileged and secret information to its chosen media partner — Hawaii News Now.”
“The information leaked to Hawaii News Now did what it was designed to do — it served to unfairly prejudice Kenoi in the eyes of grand jurors, as well as the (Hawaii Island) community members who could potentially serve as trial jurors,” the filing states. A footnote in the motion states: “To be clear, the defense does not request a change of venue based on the state’s misconduct. The state’s tactics should not subvert the laws pertaining to venue.”
The motion alleges “the release of confidential information violated … Kenoi’s constitutional right to due process and a fair and impartial grand jury proceeding” and “constituted ‘outrageous government conduct,’ thereby violating Kenoi’s due process rights.”
The filings state the “decibel level of media attention … was and remains loud and constant” and claim the attorney general’s office didn’t question grand jurors to “eliminate those … who would indict Mayor Kenoi based upon bias and prejudice rather than the merits of the state’s case … .”
A motion to dismiss on violation of Kenoi’s due process rights claims that by prosecuting Kenoi the state “has chosen to ignore this central obligation of the County of Hawaii’s elected mayor — to promote the varied interests of Hawaii island in the best way he deems fit — and instead has accused Mayor Kenoi of criminal activity based on fifteen instances of mayoral spending.”
The filing referred to the grand jury testimony of several current and former county employees, including former Finance Director Nancy Crawford who, according to the motion, said department heads or mayor could authorize personal purchases on the pCard, but the county required reimbursement.
According to the document, when asked about the timing of a personal charge reimbursement, Crawford said, “I don’t recall any specific policy or procedure related to reimbursement,” but understood it to mean within two to three months.
Crawford also testified, according to the motion, that because of “the unique nature of the mayor’s office” including “reaching out to people,” Kenoi was authorized to buy alcohol and gifts and charge entertainment expenses with the card.
Her testimony was echoed by others, including former Managing Director Bill Takaba and current Managing Director Randy Kurohara.
Kenoi is scheduled for trial Oct. 10 in Hilo before Honolulu Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario. All Big Island judges who were on the bench when the mayor was indicted recused themselves from hearing the case.
In a Tuesday email, Eddins wrote, “We will be declining comment on the motions, and going forward we will decline comment on all matters.”
Joshua Wisch, a special assistant to the attorney general, said Tuesday, “Typically, once something is being litigated, we generally restrict our comments to filings in court in any case.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
