Kaneshiro, Mitsunaga, co-defendants not guilty on all counts in corruption trial

Former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro, prominent Hawaii businessman Dennis Mitsunaga and four Mitsu­naga & Associates executives were found not guilty on all counts in their pay-to-prosecute corruption trial in U.S. District Court in Honolulu today.

After less than two days of deliberation, the jury returned their verdict early this afternoon. After the verdicts were read in court, some family members and supporters of the defendants broke down in tears while others cheered.

The defendants were indicted in June 2022 for allegedly conspiring to charge a former Mitsunaga employee with felony theft for exposing the company to liability and keeping some money from jobs done on company time with company resources. They faced federal charges of conspiracy, honest serv­ices wire fraud and federal program bribery.

Mitsunaga, Kaneshiro, Terri Ann Otani, Aaron Shunichi Fujii, Chad Michael McDonald, and Sheri Jean Tanaka, 41, all had pleaded not guilty.

Last month, Mitsunaga had been ordered to remain jailed for the duration of the trial because of alleged witness tampering.

Mitsunaga, 82, was arrested by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on April 19. Previously he had been free on an unsecured appearance bond of $50,000.

Judge Nathanael M. Cousins revoked his bail and ordered that he remain at the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu, after members of the defense team allegedly leaked grand jury testimony, according to federal court documents. One of Mitsunaga’s employees also allegedly tried to convince one of Mitsunaga’s friends, a former Honolulu police officer, to change his story at trial.