United States Attorney District of Hawaii

To United States Attorney's Office
300 Ala Moana Blvd., #6-100
Honolulu, HI 96850
808-541-2850
usaeo.foia.requests@usdoj.gov

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records: Communication between US Attorneys office and Federal Court District of Hawaii
RE: Affidavit requesting a Grand Jury investigation filed to the Court on or about December 10th 2015 by Affiant James D Benish and allegedly passed on to the sitting Grand Jury on or about January 18th, 2016. There is no known PACER or District Court Identifier. Document reference is "Benish Affidavit"
List of Documents
1. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control which support the existence of the Benish Affidavit by number or a item line number in the FBI’s record of received documents between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017. If there has been no document received please so state.
2. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control which support the existence of the Benish Affidavit in the United States US Attorney’s internal records and if applicable, the PACER identifier relating to the Affidavit submitted by James Benish to the Court in December, 2015.
3. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control which support the request by the District of Hawaii Federal Courts for US Attorney participation in the Grand Jury’s matters , the number and type of Grand Juries, in reference to the Benish Affidavit submitted between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.
4. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control which support the US Attorney’s possession of the Benish Affidavit.
5. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control which support the Benish Affidavit transmittal of documents to the FBI, or any other Department of Justice entity between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.
6. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control that represent correspondence with the Hawaii FBI office and or the Federal Court District of Hawaii or any other District Court referencing the receipt of the Benish Affidavit and Grand Jury participation between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.
7. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control which support any and all correspondence between the Federal Court District of Hawaii Court Clerks, Judge Seabright and any and all individual Judges within the District of Hawaii Court that refer to the Benish Affidavit between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.
8. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control that represent correspondence including electronic correspondence referencing the Benish Affidavit with entities or persons who are not a part of or employed by the District of Hawaii US Attorneys System and between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.
9. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control that represent correspondence including electronic correspondence referencing the Benish Affidavit with the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, or any Police Department in Hawaii between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.
10. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control that represent correspondence including electronic correspondence referencing the Benish Affidavit with any representative of any political entity within the State of Hawaii between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.
11. Please produce the Documents in your possession, custody or control that represent correspondence including electronic correspondence referencing the Benish Affidavit with any party between the months of January 1st, 2016 and July 21st, 2017.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Codefore Publishing

To: OGIS@nara.gov
RE: EQUSA-2017-001453- Deny Grand Jury.
In response to your denial of documents. I believe that it would be beneficial if more information is conveyed as to the type of documents and reason for the request.
The intent of this request is not to gain access to any Grand Jury proceeding and or material as defined in Legal terms glossary ie; Proceeding, any legal filing, hearing, trial and/or judgment in the ongoing conduct of a lawsuit or criminal prosecution. Collectively they are called "proceedings," as in "legal proceedings." Or Any court proceeding undertaken by a judge, such as a trial or hearing.” It is not the intent to gain access to any Grand Jury generated documents or material names, etc.
To the contrary, the purpose of this request is to access the US Court District of Hawaii procedure as defined in the US Court glossary: Procedure: The rules for conducting a lawsuit; there are rules of civil procedure, criminal procedure, evidence, bankruptcy, and appellate procedure.
Specifically we are requesting documents that indicate the Courts procedure was in place and adhered to. Since Rule 6 (a) (1) Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure mandates the Court to activate | convene| etc; a Grand Jury when in the “public’s interest” part of this aforementioned procedure would be notification to the US Attorney’s Office District of Hawaii of the existence of a complaint that has been transmitted to the Grand Jury. In this case it would be the “Benish Affidavit” that is already in the public arena. We are not interested in, (at this time) in any actions taken, any stipulations, or any particular other information as most of it is contained in the public “Benish Affidavit” We do not request any documents that are exempt pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(3) as US Federal Court Documents are not exempt. And specifically the “Benish Affidavit” is a public document and therefore not secret and does not violate secrecy requirements. In addition, we are not requesting the “Benish Affidavit” .We are requesting the Courts transmittal and or accompanying documents of the “Benish Affidavit” document to the US Attorney’s office District of Hawaii in an attempt to verify information provided at an earlier time. If the Affidavit and Transmittal documents were combined, the Affidavit is not requested, but documents that refer to the name “Benish” conjoined with the term “affidavit” are requested even if the term “Grand Jury” is redacted.
It was not entirely expected that pursuant to the Federal FOI statute that the US Attorney District of Hawaii would provide any “proceedings” information relevant to a Federal Grand Jury. And in addition the “Benish Affidavit” has been made public prior to this request and there is no expectation of secrecy as it applies to the Affidavit itself. In regard to this request, the “Benish Affidavit” stands alone. This affidavit can be accessed by anyone using common internet search terms.
The information | documents we request would shed light and or verify whether or not the Court took the appropriate action and has nothing to do with the Grand Jury itself. Be advised that the Court has informally acknowledge what action has and has not been taken and our request for documents seeks to verify this. It’s the public’s right to know that a request for action was received by the Court and properly processed by the Court as well as the US Attorney. If the US Attorney District of Hawaii is steadfast in refusing to provide any of the documentation requested, a simple written verification that standard Court Procedures were adhered to in reference to this matter might be somewhat beneficial.