One of Hawaii’s most closely watched corruption sagas is back in the spotlight, this time over what the public is allowed to see. A new legal fight has erupted over roughly two dozen sealed motions and transcripts tied to an eyebrow-raising subplot in the case, an alleged murder-for-hire investigation that helped push a federal judge off the 2024 bribery trial.
Public First pushes to lift the veil
The Public First Law Center has asked a federal judge to unseal the hidden filings, arguing that many were sealed without written findings and that any fair-trial concerns vanished once the defendants were acquitted. U.S. District Judge Shanlyn Park has opened a 30-day window for anyone who wants to oppose the request, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.
How the corruption case started, and how it ended
The criminal case traces back to a 2022 federal indictment that accused several defendants of routing more than $45,000 in campaign donations to then-Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro in an effort to sway a prosecution, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. A federal jury ultimately found Kaneshiro and his co-defendants not guilty in May 2024, as reported by the Associated Press.
Alleged hitman plot shakes the courthouse
Before the trial ever reached a jury, court filings and a law-enforcement probe introduced a far more dramatic allegation. One defendant, attorney Sheri Tanaka, was linked in those materials to an alleged plan to pay an ex-convict to kill U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright and the special prosecutor on the case. Tanaka’s attorney has countered that she was the one being extorted and that any payments were meant to stop threats, not arrange a killing, according to Hawaii News Now. The outlet also reported that the FBI’s Arizona office took over the suspected murder-for-hire investigation and that agents executed search warrants.
Those developments led Judge Seabright to recuse himself from the bribery case in January. U.S. Senior District Judge Timothy Burgess of Alaska was then assigned to handle the trial. Burgess later rejected defense efforts to postpone or split off Tanaka’s trial while the separate investigation moved forward, according to the AP.
Why Public First says the files should see daylight
In its new motion, the Public First Law Center contends that any claimed harm that once justified secrecy has disappeared with the acquittals, and it notes that some records were sealed without the usual written orders explaining why. Civil Beat reports that the filing asks the court to unseal motions, orders, and even certain grand-jury materials so the public can understand what happened in the case and whether the proper procedures were followed.
The law center has repeatedly pushed for transparency in the Kaneshiro matter and previously persuaded courts in 2024 to unseal other mid-trial motions, according to the group’s own case summaries. The Public First Law Center notes that it already secured partial unsealing in related proceedings…