LIHUE — County Attorney Mauna Kea Trask on Thursday cautioned activists who occupied the grounds of the former Coco Palms resort and continue attempting to win title to the property that they are basing their arguments on the authority of a fake court whose “chief justice” is a registered sex offender.
The individual identified as chief justice was convicted of three felony counts of sexual assault in 1998 and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, according to a letter signed by Trask Thursday morning.
The development was novel even by the standards of a case that has taken numerous unexpected turns.
Trask added that the non-existent “Court of the Sovereign” also does not have the same name as any actual court that existed during the tenure of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which ended when the kingdom was overthrown by American businessmen in 1893.
Trask is from a Hawaiian family whose lineage goes back into the 1800s and whose Native Hawaiian blood traces to generations before that. He said he once espoused many ideas advocated by the Coco Palms occupiers but abandoned them after he went to law school.
The letter speculated that the Coco Palms occupiers had been unwittingly misled by Mainland organizations “with ties to white supremacy.” Trask contended that some Hawaiian independence groups have advocated for “sovereign citizens” unbound by laws of a specific country.
The observations came in a letter signed by Trask and sent Thursday to Noa Mau-Espirito and Charles Hepa, the two chief organizers of the Coco Palms occupation. A day before, the two men sent Trask and Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. a document headed “Notice to quit or pay rent” that cited the alleged Court of the Sovereign in a wide array of
demands of county and state officials, two lawyers and a title company in Honolulu that they pay back rent for the property that, Mau-Espirito and Hepa said, amounts to $200 million.
Mau-Espirito and Hepa had cited the fictional court in filings during their trial in District Court in an eviction case brought by Coco Palms Hui, the would-be developer of the resort.
Their earlier filing and the document received by the mayor and county attorney’s office this week asserted authority of “The Hawaiian Judiciary, Court of the Sovereign” which, according to these documents, is presided over by “Chief Justice” Moses Enoka
Heanu.
For several weeks, rumors had circulated that Heanu is a registered sex offender who resides on Hawaii Island. Trask said his office, working with state legal authorities, had verified that the supposed chief justice is the same person listed on the sex offender registry.
“The county does not recognize ‘The Hawaiian Judiciary Court of the Sovereign’ as a lawful court with any jurisdiction whatsoever,” Trask said in his letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Garden Island. “Both federal and state case law is clear that the Hawaiian Kingdom does not exist as a current lawful government.”
The most recent documents identifying the non-existent court had left attorneys and legal observers perplexed that the District Court had even accepted it. However, court officials have explained that clerks are trained to accept almost any document for filing, with the task of sorting out which ones may be fake left for the judge in future court proceedings.
The letter was sent to Mau-Espirito and Hepa at a Lihue address that was on copies of certified letters the county received.
In fact, Trask said, there never was an institution called the Court of the Sovereign during the reign of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The kingdom’s court system included the Superior Court of Hawaii and the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Trask said the description of the activities of the “Court of the Sovereign” recycle terminology of white supremacist groups and contended that made up “common law courts” have no authority and exist “to intimidate both private citizens and governmental officials.” Such courts, and the fictional Court of the Sovereign, “have no authority to compel any action by anyone at all.”
Trask cited materials on racist groups maintained by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist organizations as mirroring wording commonly used during the Coco Palms occupation. The letter drew no actual connection between the occupiers and such groups.
After a trial that spanned several weeks earlier this year, District Court Judge Michael Soong ruled that the Coco Palms occupiers had no legal right to occupy the property and gave them five days to vacate it. It was not for several weeks, however, that sheriff’s deputies and Kauai Police Department officers descended en masse and removed the occupiers.
On Thursday afternoon, no people were visible in the former encampment off Kuamoo Road in Wailua. Several tents and a portable toilet were still in place and two small pickup trucks were parked in the area the occupiers had used. The area remained largely unfenced and no security personnel were visible.
Trask also sent a memorandum to a variety of state officials “regarding legal information on general Native Hawaiian sovereignty claims.” The memo emphasized it was not a legal document in and of itself but had been prepared to try to respond to numerous questions about the Coco Palms occupation that have flooded the mayor’s and other county offices.
“The legal situation regarding Native Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination is very complex and while Native Hawaiian people do enjoy certain state and federal constitutional rights and entitlements separate from the non-native population, they must as a political group nonetheless comply with county, state and federal laws like everyone else.”
Trask has maintained a dialogue with Mau-Espirito and Hepa for several weeks. He said he made these connections in part because he, himself, as a young Native Hawaiian subscribed to the same beliefs in the surviving existence of the Hawaiian Kingdom as the
occupiers.
“The county accepts and pursues its legal obligations to Native Hawaiian people,” Trask said in an interview, with an objective to “take care of the emotions first. You have to enter into a dialogue accepting that they are people and they are OUR people.”
It was not clear what the next move by the former occupiers would be, if any. The notice sent to the mayor and county attorney has no legal validity and will be ignored, Trask said.
“The County of Kauai declines to recognize or comply with the demands in your notice,” his letter concluded.
The occupation of Coco Palms began in late 2016. Honolulu-based developers who seek to rebuild the resort, which was badly damaged in Hurricane Iniki in 1992, have said they plan to start construction in the next few months. No construction work has actually
begun.
Mau-Espirito and Hepa could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Mr Trask is one of the finest government officials we have. He’s both smart and a good listener. To learn these guys want to have their case heard by a fake court ruled by a sex offender sounds about right. Lol to the made up Court of Sovereignty or whatever! You should report on how several of these guys have moved and are now illegally camping up by the falls…on state park lands. I guess they think they can do whatever they want to since they’re now Royal Hawaiians…just like the hotel!
Uncleaina, i find your level of intelligence to be lower than the ocean floor. Let me explain this Sovereign Court you imply as not real. Firstly, is our Courts here in Hawai’i legally real ? Now, that is a question of jurisdictional discretion. We haven’t even heard the State Claim that Hawaiian Islands is “a STATE” without proving the annexation was ever real. And mocking people of their race as Royal Hawaiians is a racial remark being allowed by A county attorney ? whose practice may not even be legal under the Hawaiian Sovereign Kingdom because we are not a State and that persons certification is under US certificate not Hawaiian certification. Therefore, 49 States less one. Hawai’i.
I could only make it through half of the article….sorry Allan.
Could someone in a Government leadership position, put aside all the touchy, feely, PC madness, and squash these “Adult Children” once and for all??? I’m tired of my tax dollars being used to entertain these children.
Ok , now can these so called occupiers stop wasting every bodies time ?
Hopefully they will listen to Mauna Kea, who obviously knows way more than they do, and stop wasting the taxpayers’ money with their frivolous actions.
The War Criminals will also include this propaganda reporter and his collusion.
The County erred! Here is proof that the true HAWAI’IAN KINGDOM still exists…
HAWAIIANKINGDOM.ORG
well written. way to go trask. on to the next, stop wasting tax payer money already.
They will have to wait to cancel the false Hawaiian Judiciary Court of the Sovereign until after their fearless leader comes back from Las Vegas where he is doing AMERICAN THINGS….
If what Mr. Trask says is true then all the county, State and Federal government has to do is produce the irrefutable proof of a Treaty of Peace, an irrefutable Treaty of Annexation, clear title to the land, and a contract with the Kanaka Maoli people. Alan & Mauna Kea Trask have you you personally seen the white glove Treaty of Annexation? If not, take the blinders off and admit defeat.
Hope is eternal for those who wait for unearned rewards. Bring on the lottery and we’ll all be pleased.
Mauna Kea,the kingdom of Hawaii is still under a belligerent occupation by the US,and as such,it does not affect the continuity of the state,even where there exists no government claiming to represent the occupied state.Without a treaty of peace,the laws of war and neutrality would continue to apply.
So any transfer of land titles,since the overthrow of the government of the kingdom,would be null and void,and are war crimes.
Firstly, the term Kingdom of Hawai’i is incorrectly referenced by Mr. Trask! That term is the title for the Kingdom of Hawai’i Island.
Ko Hawai’i Pae ‘Aina … The Hawaiian Kingdom exists and is evidence in the International Court of Arbitration in 1999 (Larsen vs Hawaiian Kingdom) and again in 2016 (Philippines vs China). It is clear through these international cases that the Hawaiian Kingdom does in fact exist! The current government (an agency of the USA) is the illegal occupier; in fact Public Law 103-150 admits to this illegality.
Perhaps Mr. Trask (using his private title as he wrote all his documents in his unofficial capacity) perhaps he should go back to his alma mata and study some more! Professor Williamson Chang could surely educate him on this subject!
Aloha, read the article, thought it was okay… but
He does recognize that there WAS a Hawaiian Kingdom.
The problem that I have I’ve been looking for the Treaty of annexation for the past 20 years. Does anybody know where I can find the Treaty of annexation. Why would big country like the USA apologize the Hawaiian people taking their National land.
I was just wondering since mr. Trash been here since the 1800s maybe he knows where I can find the treaty of annexation of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
I know HK as many treaties. It’s just that I can’t find the treaty of annexation between HK and the USA is there anybody out there that can help me please?
Good job Mauna, at least someone in government has the knowledge of the subject matter and not afraid to share.
Wasting too much of our resources with these guys, and of course, looks like they are trying to scam the owners of Coco Palms for money….try getting a job and working like the rest of us.