Kaplan Marino Gets Not Guilty Verdicts For Honolulu Businessman In Bribery and Public Corruption Case

The legal team headed by co-founder Nina Marino swept with not guilty verdicts for Dennis Mitsunaga, 82, who faced up to 15 years in prison

HONOLULU, HAWAII, USA, May 23, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A trial victory for the Los Angeles-based white collar legal boutique Kaplan Marino, PC vindicates an 82-year-old Honolulu businessman charged in a bribery conspiracy.

In a stunning defeat for the United States Attorney’s Office, after a ten-week jury trial where the government called 41 witnesses to the stand, it took less than twelve hours for jurors to return not guilty verdicts on all counts on Friday in favor of Dennis Mitsunaga, the former CEO of the prominent engineering firm Mitsunaga & Associates Inc., and all other co-defendants. The San Diego Special Prosecutors based in Honolulu sought to portray Mitsunaga’s campaign donations to the Honolulu prosecutor’s office as evidence of a pay-to-play prosecution scheme. Mitsunaga’s legal team, led by firm co-founder Nina Marino, argued to the contrary, persuasively demonstrating day after day the lack of evidence to substantiate the charges and that the campaign donations were just that: campaign donations and not bribes.

The underlying charges against Mitsunaga and all other co-defendants stemmed from a dispute with a former employee of Mitsunaga’s company, who prosecutors claimed was the target of a conspiratorial campaign helmed by Mitsunaga to have her criminally prosecuted. Mitsunaga and Associates, Inc. had fired the employee after discovering she had stolen from the company, and filed a police report. The employee then sued the company for sex and age discrimination. The government argued that the pursuit of criminal charges against the employee was retaliatory and the product of a criminal conspiracy to interfere with her civil rights by bribing the prosecutor’s office to pursue criminal charges against the employee. The jury swiftly and flatly rejected this theory.

“The verdicts in this case represent a complete rejection of the government’s theory of prosecution in this case,” Marino said. “We’re thankful to the jury for seeing the evidence presented for what it was, and our client and all the defendants are finally vindicated after a battle that waged for several years.”
The case is United States v. Kaneshiro, et al. (CR-22-00048-TMB-NC), Hawaii District Court.

# # #

Kaplan Marino, PC's individualized defense strategies turn cases around and protect clients from the collateral consequences of criminal charges. Based in Hollywood, California, with a more than 30-year record of achieving favorable outcomes - from the U.S. Department of Justice and Interpol to Attorney General's, District and City Attorneys' Offices -the firm manages its clients' most serious matters.

JONATHAN FITZGARRALD
Equinox Strategy Partners
+1 310-601-6008
email us here