An employee of architectural firm CEO and defendant Dennis Mitsunaga testified Tuesday that he asked her to communicate with an upcoming witness on his behalf in the ongoing bribery trial of former Honolulu prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro.

Joanna Kameoka, who works for Mitsunaga’s engineering firm, Mitsunaga & Associates Inc., told jurors she met with him on April 1 at his home office, where he told her she needed to talk to Rudy Alivado, a longtime friend of Mitsunaga’s and a government witness in the ongoing trial. Mitsunaga is under a court order not to contact witnesses. 

“It felt a little wrong,” Kameoka said. “I didn’t want to get involved between two people that couldn’t talk to each other.” 

Alivado also told jurors Tuesday that Mitsunaga & Associates lawyer Sheri Tanaka coached him before he testified in two separate legal matters — a 2014 civil trial involving Mitsunaga and former employee Laurel Mau and a 2021 grand jury hearing for this criminal case.

Mitsunaga, who is facing federal charges that he conspired to bribe Kaneshiro, has been held in the Federal Detention Center since he was arrested Friday and accused of obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Judge Timothy Burgess ruled Tuesday morning that the jury could hear evidence about the alleged witness tampering but could only consider it for its bearing on Mitsunaga’s “consciousness of guilt of the offenses charged in the indictment.” He instructed them not to weigh the evidence against any other defendants. 

Kaneshiro, Mitsunaga and Tanaka — as well as Mitsunaga & Associates secretary Terri Ann Otani, chief operating officer Aaron Fujii and president Chad Michael McDonald — are all charged with multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and violate a person’s rights. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Communicating With A Witness

Kameoka said she met with Alivado on April 2 under the guise that she was going to take pictures of his Waimanalo farm. 

Before her visit, Mitsunaga had told her about discrepancies in Alivado’s testimonies in the two separate legal matters, and that what he said during the 2014 civil lawsuit was more favorable to Mitsunaga. She gave him copies of transcripts of the two testimonies.

“The 2014 trial testimony was good for them and was public record,” Kameoka said. “But the grand jury testimony wasn’t good for them, and unless Rudy testifies they can’t use it.” 

Mitsunaga told her to tell Alivado to plead the Fifth Amendment when he took the stand and invoke his right against self-incrimination.

After meeting with Alivado, Kameoka met Mitsunaga for lunch outside the courtroom where the trial is being conducted on the fourth floor of the federal courthouse. 

“He asked me if I talked to (Alivado) and I said yes,” she said. “He asked me if he understood. I said I don’t know. I said I did what I could.” 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Chiang pulled up a text message Mitsunaga sent to Kameoka that day in which he called her a “ninja.” 

Kameoka said Mitsunaga didn’t come up with the nickname, but it was something people called her because she was known for getting things done behind the scenes. 

“It’s not as sinister as it seems,” she said. 

Mitsunaga’s lawyer, Nina Marino, portrayed Mitsunaga as a caring friend who was concerned Alivado could be accused of perjury if he testified due to the discrepancies in his two past testimonies. The two men are longtime friends, and Mitsunaga simply wanted Kameoka to warn Alivado about the danger he was in, Marino said.

“He was worried that these lawyers would make Rudy look like a big liar because he had what he believed to be two inconsistent testimonies,” she said. 

Witness Says He Was Coached Prior To Testimony

Alivado, who took the stand after Kameoka, told jurors when she passed him his grand jury transcripts on April 2 he felt that something illegal had occurred. 

When he told investigators about what had happened, he said he and Kameoka had met at Zippy’s because he didn’t want his Waimanalo farm “to be the scene of the crime committed.” 

Alivado also said Tanaka coached him about his testimony before the civil trial and grand jury hearing. 

Before the civil trial, Tanaka asked him to “respond to questions for the benefit of Mitsunaga & Associates,” he said. 

In that trial, Alivado testified about payments he gave to Laurel Mau for work she did on his Kaneohe property in 2008 and 2009 while she was still an employee of Mitsunaga & Associates. Alivado testified at the time he thought the $2,800 he paid her was going to the firm. 

That claim later became part of a theft case Kaneshiro’s office brought against Mau, and Alivado was named as a victim. 

But Alivado said it was a lie that he thought the payments were intended for the firm, and he always meant to pay Mau directly. 

“I didn’t feel like I was a victim,” he said. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat asked him why he lied in the civil trial. 

“I think because of my friendship with Dennis (Mitsunaga) and loyalty to the firm who did so much for me,” Alivado said. Mitsunaga and Alivado had purchased properties in Kaneohe together and the firm helped him build his home, he said. 

But when he got a subpoena in 2021 to testify before a grand jury, he said he was surprised. He met with Tanaka, who coached him again and encouraged him to plead the Fifth Amendment.

Mitsunaga has been ordered to remain in custody for the duration of the trial, and the defendants have had their access to trial materials further restricted, according to an order filed Tuesday by Burgess. They are prohibited from possessing grand jury or discovery material, are only allowed to review it in the presence of lawyers and are not allowed to give copies of the materials to any witnesses or third parties, the order says.