Target Of Mitsunaga Theft Case Files Civil Rights Lawsuit
The case was unsuccessful in criminal court, but civil cases have a lower standard of proof.
After a criminal jury declined to convict Honolulu’s former prosecutor and employees of Mitsunaga & Associates for conspiring to violate an ex-employee’s civil rights, the former employee is taking the case to civil court.
The federal criminal case accused former Honolulu prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro of plotting with the Mitsunaga team to charge Laurel Mau with theft in exchange for campaign donations. The defense argued that the donations were legal and there was no conspiracy or quid pro quo. The defendants were acquitted after a two-month trial in which the jury found the case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Now, Mau’s attorney Carl Osaki is using the facts from the criminal case and presenting them in a civil rights lawsuit, which has a lower standard of proof. Osaki declined to comment on the filing.
A complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Friday names Kaneshiro; the City and County of Honolulu; former deputy prosecutor Jacob Delaplane; former prosecutor’s office investigator Vernon Branco; former CEO Dennis Mitsunaga; his associates Aaron Fujii, Chad McDonald, Terri Ann Otani and Sheri Tanaka; and Mitsunaga friend and client Rudy Alivado.
The suit alleges the defendants deprived Mau of her rights, that Kaneshiro and Delaplane engaged in a malicious prosecution and that Mitsunaga’s team fraudulently concealed its communications with Kaneshiro’s office. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
Read the full complaint below:
