Posted at 5:10 p.m., Friday, June 29, 2001

Mirkitani jury members say they watched news of case

By Jaymes Song
Associated Press Writer

Four of the 12 jurors in the federal theft and extortion trial of City Councilman Andy Mirkitani said today they saw news accounts of another councilman proclaiming Mirikitani guilty.

U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor called the jurors back into the courtroom nearly three hours into deliberations to question them about whether they had seen the reports.

Defense attorneys had argued the jurors may have been influenced by Councilman Steve Holmes' statements to reporters aired last night.

During a recess outside the federal courthouse yesterday, Holmes told reporters, "I've had a lot of personal exposure working with Andy. Do I think he did it? Yes I do."

"Publicly, he's been very damaged," added Holmes, who watched Thursday's closing arguments. "I think his political career is at an end at this point."

After deliberations today, the jury recessed this afternoon and will return Monday.

Mirikitani is the highest-ranking elected official in Hawaii to be indicted on federal felony charges while in office. He is accused of paying bonuses of nearly $26,600 in 1999 to then-aides Cynthia McMillan and Jonn Serikawa and receiving kickbacks of $6,844 — about half of the total bonuses after taxes.

Mirikitani, 45, who has been on the council for 12 years, is also accused of urging his aides not to discuss the arrangement with FBI agents.

His girlfriend, Sharron Bynum, is charged with aiding and abetting in the scheme.

Defense attorneys noted that Holmes' statements were "teased" several times during regular television programming, so jurors didn't necessarily have to watch the newscasts to hear about them.

Gillmor ordered the eight-woman, four-man jury to completely avoid newspapers, television and radio and sent them back into deliberations.

"I don't want to sequester you," she said. "I don't think you really want to go to a hotel."

She also warned reporters not to contact jurors until after the trial.

Honolulu attorney Jeffrey Portnoy, who is not involved in the Mirikitani case, said the media exposure would give Mirikitani an "appealable issue" if he is convicted of any of the charges.

But Portnoy, who often represents the news media, said exposure to news coverage of a trial by no means automatically taints a juror.

"It is an easy excuse and is a very easy claim to make in appealing an adverse verdict, but it is very difficult to prove," he said. "In this particular case, I would hope that the jurors who have sat through the entire trial would decide the case on the evidence presented as they have been instructed and sworn to do, and would not allow themselves to be influenced by any outside opinion."

Jurors often hear evidence in court that judges later order them to disregard and are trusted to consider only admissible evidence, Portnoy added.

In closing arguments yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Seabright attacked Mirikitani's credibility and pointed out contradictions between the councilman's testimony and the testimony of prosecution witnesses.

"Mr. Mirikitani is a corrupt politician," Seabright said. "That's a fact based on the evidence."

"It is clear someone is lying," he said.

Defense attorney John Edmunds said it was the prosecution's key witnesses who were lying, particularly Serikawa, who was fired by Mirikitani and has been convicted of a drug-related felony and a misdemeanor charge of contempt of court.

If Mirikitani had made a deal with Serikawa for an illegal kickback, it doesn't make sense that he would then fire Serikawa who could then air the councilman's "dirty laundry," Edmunds said.

"It'd be idiotic to fire him ... It would be like calling in an air strike on yourself and cutting your own throat," Edmunds said.

A November grand jury indictment charged the councilman with one count each of wire fraud, theft, bribery and extortion, and two counts of witness tampering.

An extortion conviction is punishable by up to 20 years in prison; theft, bribery and witness tampering, 10 years; wire fraud, five years.

A conviction would also end Mirikitani's career as a politician. State law bars anyone sentenced for a felony from holding public office.