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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, September 24, 2003

Judicial conflict not challenged

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city prosecutor's office has no immediate plan to challenge the sentencing of a top campaign contributor to Mayor Jeremy Harris based on a judge not disclosing as a possible conflict of interest that Harris had appointed the judge's wife to a city commission.

"We are not looking into it at this point in time," Deputy City Prosecutor Randal Lee said.

Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto sentenced engineering company executive Michael Matsumoto in July to 300 hours of community service and ordered him to pay $15,000 to a crime victims' fund after Matsumoto pleaded no contest to illegally funneling $140,000 to Harris' campaign committee.

Lee said he had not known that Harris named Kalene Shim-Sakamoto in 1998 to a volunteer post on the city's Neighborhood Commission. But he said the nondisclosure was not a criminal matter warranting an investigation or immediate grounds for an appeal.

Lee had asked that Sakamoto sentence Matsumoto to probation, which would leave him with a permanent criminal record. Sakamoto instead granted Matsumoto a chance to clear his record if he commits no offenses for five years.

Sakamoto disclosed to the prosecution and defense that Matsumoto's son had at one time been Sakamoto's physical therapist. The parties agreed the relationship should not prevent Sakamoto from overseeing the case.

Sakamoto declined to comment on whether his wife's position was relevant to the case.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.