Katherine Kealoha is in good spirits, but she will likely need surgery soon.
That’s according to her attorney, Earle Partington, who visited her at the Federal Detention Center.
Partington was hired as her second attorney a couple of weeks ago. He says Kealoha will likely need to get escorted visits to the doctor to treat her cancer.
“She said everything’s fine out there. I was surprised that she was in really good spirits for somebody who can’t be happy about her situation,” said Partington.
He visited Kealoha at the Federal Detention Center on Saturday, one day after a federal judge ordered her to be placed in custody. He says she is in isolation because she’s a former prosecutor.
And even though those she sent to prison are in state facilities, the federal government takes extra precautions against anyone retaliating against her.
“The federal government is very good in taking care of prisoners who need to be protected. And if she had any concerns about the place she would have expressed them to me and she didn’t,” Partington said.
He says the main concern now is for her to get medical treatment for cancer. He says he didn’t ask her what type of cancer she has. But he says she has a tumor that needs to be removed. He says she had another tumor removed before.
“She doesn’t know her prognosis because she needs surgery to remove another tumor. It’s on her spine and until she gets an evaluation for that she doesn’t know where this is going to go,” said Partington.
Partington says the federal government is making arrangements for Kealoha to be escorted out of the detention center to get the treatment she needs. All things considered, he says, she remains in good spirits.
“We were laughing at some cases. I told her about some clients of mine in the past who were rather wacky just to see if I can get a laugh out of her and I did,” he said.
Partington says he will file an appeal to Kealoha’s guilty verdict. But he has to wait until she is sentenced, which is scheduled for October.
