Motion to Modify Conditions of Release by Martin Kao — United States v. Kao (Dkt. 111, D. Haw. No. 1:21-cr-00061)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii · No. 1:21-cr-00061-LEK · Doc. 111 · 2023-08-24 · Docket on CourtListener

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LAW OFFICE OF VICTOR J. BAKKE  
 
VICTOR J. BAKKE 
 
5749 
700 Bishop Street, Suite 2100 
Honolulu, Hawaii  96813 
Telephone: (808) 369-8170 
Facsimile: (808) 369-8179 
E-Mail: vbakke@bakkelawfirm.com 
 
Attorney for Defendant 
MARTIN KAO 
 
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
Plaintiff, 
vs. 
MARTIN KAO, 
Defendant. 
 
 
 
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CR. NO. 21-00061 JAO 
DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO 
MODIFY CONDITION OF 
RELEASE; CERTIFICATE OF 
SERVICE 
DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO MODIFY CONDITION OF RELEASE 
 
Defendant MARTIN KAO (“Mr. Kao”) moves this Court to modify the 
condition of release to replace the GPS monitoring requirement with SmartLINK 
mobile app monitoring.  The current condition (7p5) requires him to abide by the 
program requirements related to the f Passive Global Positioning satellite (GPS) 
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Monitoring system. (Dkt. 8)  Moreover, he is prohibited from entering any airport, 
boat harbors, or places of egress on Oʻahu. Id. The GPS Monitoring system 
requires Mr. Kao to wear an ankle bracelet similar to the one depicted below:  
 
Instead, he is requesting use of the SmartLINK application.  SmartLINK is a smart 
phone application that is downloaded to the participant’s mobile device which has 
biometric facial check-in and location monitoring schedule submissions 
capabilities.  
Mr. Kao has been supervised by United States Probation Office since 
October 7, 2020. (Dkt. 11).  In the almost three years of supervision, there have 
been no concerns regarding Mr. Kao’s flight risk.  He has a stable, full-time job at 
Cheesecake Factory, is involved in his family’s life, meets regularly with his 
attorney, and has appeared at all court hearings.  The GPS monitoring is more 
restrictive than necessary given the low risk of flight Mr. Kao presents.  
Mr. Kao is requesting this modest change to his pretrial conditions for two 
primary reasons.  First, the GPS device is bulky and painful to wear. He 
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periodically switches the leg it is attached to because of the discomfort. He wears 
two socks under it, even to sleep to provide some cushion between the device and 
his leg. This is especially burdensome because Mr. Kao works as a cook at an 
incredibly busy restaurant and is on his feet up to ten hours a day.  Also 
significantly, swimming and the beach were an important part of Mr. Kao’s life 
prior to his arrest in this case.  He is not able to get into the water, whether it be a 
pool or the ocean because of the ankle monitor.  Spending time at the beach and 
swimming with his family is a productive activity he would like to be able to 
partake in and would provide a positive outlet for his own stressors.  
Mr. Kao understands if this modification is granted, he will still be required 
to abide by all of his restrictive conditions including curfew and a prohibition from 
entering any airports, boat harbors, or places of egress on Oʻahu. 
For these reasons, as well as any others that may be argued at a hearing on 
this Motion, Mr. Kao requests that the Court modify his supervision conditions to 
allow him to him to be monitored by the SmartLINK application instead of the 
GPS Monitoring system.  
 
DATED:  Honolulu, Hawaii, August 24, 2023. 
/s/ Victor J. Bakke  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
VICTOR J. BAKKE 
 
Attorney for Defendant 
 
 
 
 
 
MARTIN KAO 
 
Case 1:21-cr-00061-LEK     Document 111     Filed 08/24/23     Page 3 of 3  PageID.962

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