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The federal government dismissed human trafficking charges against the owners of Aloun Farms in August “in the interest of justice.” Now, their lawyers say the government should pay their attorneys fees, too.

Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway on Friday morning heard nearly two hours of arguments over whether the federal government ought to reimburse brothers Mike and Alec Sou for roughly $500,000 in defense costs.

“They can never be made whole. Their business has suffered tremendously. We’re just asking for this simple thing — that they be paid back their attorneys fees,” said Thomas Otake, lawyer for Mike Sou.

The brothers estimate they spent about $400,000 on lawyers fees and $100,000 on other fees and costs, such as bringing in expert witnesses, court filings show.

The government, for its part, asked the judge to consider the chilling effect granting the request could create for future prosecutors.

“It’s an extraordinary remedy, it should not be granted lightly,” said Kristy Parker, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division.

Mollway did not issue a ruling Friday, but made clear that she had reservations about granting the brothers’ request, given that they had initially pleaded guilty in the case.

“They pled guilty,” she said. “It’s a little odd for people who did plead guilty … to then move for attorneys fees on the grounds that the government’s case is frivolous.”

The Aloun Farms trial collapsed in August after the lead prosecutor admitted before the judge that she had misstated the law in front of the grand jury that indicted the Sous.

The brothers had been charged in an alleged human trafficking scheme involving 44 Thai farm workers. They faced 12 felony counts including five counts of forced labor, one count of forced labor conspiracy, two counts of document servitude, one count of visa fraud conspiracy, two counts of harboring an illegal alien for financial gain, and one obstruction of justice count. If found guilty, they each faced up to 20 years in prison.

The Sous initially pleaded guilty in January 2010 to conspiring to commit forced labor, signing sworn statements admitting that they told the workers that they were not free to leave the farm and would be deported if they were disobedient.

But at their sentencing hearing in July 2010, Mollway threw out their plea deal after it appeared the Sous didn’t understand what they were pleading to.

On Friday, Mollway greeted the familiar gaggle of defendants and defense lawyers in court with humor.

“I don’t know that I’m happy to see you all again,” she said.

There were two new faces sitting at the government’s table, both from the U.S. Dept. of Justice: Parker, with the Civil Rights Division; and Hilary Axom, Director of the Human Trafficking Unit. Hawaii U.S. Attorney Florence Nakakuni watched the proceedings from the gallery.

The matter of attorneys fees was originally scheduled to be heard before a federal magistrate on Thursday, but Mollway made a point of bringing it back into her courtroom.

Arguments about whether the brothers were entitled to attorneys fees inevitably focused on the federal government’s mischaracterization of the law in front of the grand jury about recruitment fees. At the time of the Sous alleged crimes in 2004 and 2005, it was not illegal to charge foreign workers recruitment fees. But federal prosecutor Susan French had told the grand jury differently.

The case was “premised on a faulty understanding of the law,” said Thomas Bienert, lawyer for Alec Sou. “Where is the evidence that the Sou brothers coerced anybody?”

Parker countered by noting that the legality of recruitment fees was not central to the indictment.

“The issue is not whether it was legal or illegal…but whether the fee was used as a cudgel…coercing (the workers) to remain in service when they could have left,” she said.

After nearly two hours of argument, Mollway summed up the issue by saying: “It’s complicated.”

She plans to issue a written ruling in the coming days.