Lawyers agree on sentencing date in corruption case
HONOLULU — Sentencing in Hawaii’s biggest corruption investigation could now happen in November after it was postponed by the coronavirus pandemic.
A letter from U.S. prosecutors to a judge was filed in court Wednesday, saying the sides agreed on a sentencing date of Nov. 3 for former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his now-estranged wife, Katherine Kealoha, who was a former high-ranking city prosecutor.
A jury convicted them last year of conspiracy in a plot to frame a relative to keep him from revealing fraud that financed their lavish lifestyle.
Sentencing hearings for the couple were originally scheduled for March. The judge postponed because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
Lawyers agreed on Nov. 4 for sentencing of two former officers convicted with the Kealohas.
A status hearing is scheduled next week.
U.S. prosecutors recommended Katherine Kealoha be sent to prison for 14 years and her husband be locked up for about half that time because they abused their positions of trust to commit corrupt acts at the highest levels of law enforcement.
To avoid a second trial, the Kealohas later pleaded guilty to bank fraud, saying they provided false information to obtain loans.
Katherine Kealoha also pleaded guilty to an identity theft charge, saying she got a police officer to forge a police report she used to explain negative information on a credit report. She also pleaded guilty to a charge that involved her protecting her brother from a drug investigation.
Louis Kealoha filed for divorce in October.
Esper to visit Palau, Guam
and Hawaii
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Mark Esper will travel to Palau next week, as well as Hawaii and Guam, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
It will be only Esper’s second international trip since the coronavirus pandemic hit earlier this year, forcing him to scale back his 2020 travel plans. He has made the Asia-Pacific region his top policy priority, although Palau is a rare destination for an American defense secretary.
During his trip, Esper will attend commemorative events marking the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The battleship USS Missouri, aboard which Allied and Japanese representatives signed the war’s surrender documents on Sept. 2, 1945, is now a memorial standing in Pearl Harbor.
