Review of attorney ruling sought
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
A panel that recommends punishment for lawyers who have engaged in misconduct has asked the Hawai'i Supreme Court to reconsider the sanctions imposed on Supreme Court staff attorney Alvin Sasaki.
On April 1, the Supreme Court composed of substitute justices ignored a recommendation from the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel that Sasaki be suspended from practicing law for three years and reduced the penalty to public censure and 300 hours of community service.
On Wednesday, Carole Richelieu, chief disciplinary counsel, and Alvin Ito, special assistant disciplinary counsel for the disciplinary panel, filed a formal request asking the Supreme Court to reconsider the punishment meted out to Sasaki.
It will now be up to the substitute panel of Supreme Court justices to decide whether to reconsider the matter.
In a statement attached to the reconsideration request, Richelieu said community service is not on the list of options the high court can use to discipline attorneys.
And while the substitute panel found that the long period between the time when Sasaki committed wrongful acts and when he was disciplined for them should be considered in his favor, Richelieu said most of the delay was caused by Sasaki and legal maneuvering by his lawyer, Keith Agena.
In support of the request, Richelieu said Agena had sent a letter to the Supreme Court on Nov. 21, 2001, pointing out to the court that a long delay was considered a mitigating factor in a discipline case involving another attorney.
But her office was never informed of the letter and was not given the chance to comment on what bearing the other case should have on Sasaki's, Richelieu said.
In addition, the lawyer whose case Agena made reference to had made two misrepresentations and engaged in a conflict of interest, yet he received a six-month suspension while Sasaki was not suspended.
Agena would not comment on the reconsideration request and Sasaki did not respond to a request to comment.
Sasaki, a former chief deputy in the public defender's office, admitted to many acts of misconduct, almost all between 1988 and 1993, when he was in private practice. They included falsely notarizing 18 legal documents, lying under oath when questioned about the notarizations, and lying to an investigator from the state Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Filling in for the regular Supreme Court justices, who cited a conflict of interest, were judges George Masuoka of Kaua'i, Shackley Raffetto of Maui, Ronald Ibarra of the Big Island and Gary W.B. Chang of O'ahu, who ruled Sasaki should be censured publicly and perform community service.
A fifth panel member, O'ahu Circuit Judge Dan Kochi, dissented, saying he believed a suspension was warranted.
The substitute panel ruled on Sasaki's case three years after the Office of Disciplinary Counsel made its recommendations that he be suspended from practicing law for three years.
Sasaki had been publicly reprimanded by the Supreme Court in 1993 — shortly before being hired as a staff attorney — for falsely notarizing signatures on a mortgage document. An investigation into additional improper acts by Sasaki and his former partner Jonathan Ezer continued intermittently for the next seven years, according to court files. Ezer resigned from the practice of law two years ago in the face of unspecified misconduct charges brought against him by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
