A defendant in a high-profile Honolulu corruption case may be a “danger” to others or the community, and the court should reconsider the terms of her pretrial release, her probation officer said on Thursday. 

Sheri Jean Tanaka is currently awaiting trial in the pay-to-play case against her former boss, businessman Dennis Mitsunaga, and former Honolulu prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro. Tanaka is an attorney who represented Mitsunaga & Associates, a local engineering firm, and is accused of helping to bribe Kaneshiro into prosecuting one of the firm’s former employees. 

Tanaka was arrested in 2022 but has been out on bail. Her trial is scheduled to begin next month.

On Thursday evening, her federal probation officer Erin Patrick filed a petition to the court asking that Tanaka be summoned to court for a bail review hearing. Patrick justified the request by saying “the defendant may pose a danger to any other person or the community.”

No other details were provided in the notice, and the probation office declined to comment on Thursday evening.

“It appears by this request that pretrial services is saying there has been a change in circumstances the court should look into to decide whether to modify the conditions and increase supervision or revoke bail and have someone placed in custody,” said Ali Silvert, a former federal public defender.

Increased supervision could mean a curfew, home detention or GPS tracking, Silvert said.

“If the court doesn’t think that’s enough, the court will revoke bail and put her in custody,” he said.

Emails sent to Tanaka’s legal team on Thursday evening went unanswered.

Tanaka and her criminal case have been a topic of legal intrigue in recent weeks.

In late January, Judge Michael Seabright abruptly recused himself from the case without explanation. And apparently no other Hawaii federal judges were willing to take up the matter because it was reassigned to a federal judge out of Alaska and a magistrate judge from California.

Days later, on Feb. 5, Tanaka’s attorney Mark Mermelstein filed sealed motions to delay the trial and to separate his client from the other defendants. In heavily redacted versions of the motions posted to the public docket, he referenced a “very unique fact pattern” and “unforeseeable circumstances outside counsel’s control or foresight.”

Federal prosecutors objected to both motions under seal on Wednesday. A publicly available version of their objection is also heavily redacted.

However, they state that severing Tanaka from her co-defendants would be “a profound miscarriage of justice.” It would mean holding two months-long trials, which would burden jurors and over 80 witnesses who would have to testify twice, they argued.

“In addition to the significant strain on social and judicial resources, the risk associated with
inconsistent verdicts would inure to the public’s detriment,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also questioned an argument from the defense that “their anxiety and concern about their trial” warrants a delay. The Department of Justice said it would rather delay the trial for all defendants than sever Tanaka from the case.

A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 26 for the judge to hear pre-trial motions.

Tanaka has been a licensed attorney in the islands since 2010 and is a former licensed realtor. She graduated from Punahou School and holds a broadcast journalism degree from Brigham Young University.