Miske’s attorneys will argue that the whole idea of a broad and overarching organization running a racketeering conspiracy with their client in charge, what the government refers to as the Miske Enterprise, is a fiction that exists only in the minds of the prosecution. “The question (for jurors) isn’t whether you believe these witnesses, it’s whether you believe them beyond a reasonable doubt,” according to former criminal defense attorney Ken Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project and a faculty specialist at the University of Hawaii’s William S. The defense will try to paint them as liars who will say whatever is necessary to save their own skins, and will accuse them of committing many of the crimes which, they say, the government wrongly attributes to their client and the so-called Miske Enterprise.Īnd they will seek to exploit every inconsistency between the stories told by different witnesses, or stories that change over time, and will attempt to use these cherry-picked examples to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of jurors. They will attack the credibility of the government’s witnesses, especially those former Miske associates and co-defendants who have already pleaded guilty and are expected to testify against their former boss. This has clearly preserved the issue for a possible future appeal. They have already been targeting procedural and technical flaws in the government’s handling of the case before trial, attacking prosecutors for allegedly “slow-walking” required disclosure of evidence in the process of discovery which, they say, has violated Miske’s Fifth Amendment right to due process, and Sixth Amendment right to confront and cross-examine his accusers. His attorneys intend to turn the tables and put the government and its yearslong investigation on trial, attacking the integrity and reliability of the government’s entire investigation, including what they say is the government’s creation of a fictional “Miske Enterprise” that, according to Panagakos, never really existed. Miske’s legal strategy, which has been on display in a series of legal filings and oral arguments over much of the past year, can be summed up in three words: Attack. Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2015 On The Offensive Mike Miske and other defendants in the government’s massive criminal case have been locked up in the federal detention center in Honolulu for more than a year awaiting trial. “We’re fighting, because they are trying to put this man away for life,” Panagakos told Magistrate Judge Kenneth Mansfield during a court hearing in May. Miske’s legal team, headed by co-counsel Thomas Otake and Lynn Panagakos, have clearly signaled they intend to come out swinging. The trial of Miske and seven remaining defendants is scheduled to begin in April and last several months. Miske is accused of controlling and directing a long-running and violent racketeering conspiracy that engaged in a wide range of criminal activities, including murder and murder-for-hire, kidnapping, arson, armed robbery, drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering. have served notice they intend to follow that playbook and go on the offensive when his case goes to trial next year. Now attorneys representing former Honolulu business owner Michael John Miske Jr. In the realm of sports, it’s often said the best defense is a good offense.
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