Terry Ann Otani's Hawaii straw-donor trial has been pushed back a fifth time because a plea deal is now being negotiated, a sign the state case may end without a trial.

• Otani, a former secretary at engineering firm Mitsunaga & Associates, is accused of illegally funneling campaign money to political candidates through family members and a false name.
• She and other Mitsunaga employees were found not guilty of bribery conspiracy in federal court in 2024, but testimony from that trial led the state attorney general to file this separate case.
• Legal experts say it is not double jeopardy because the federal case was about bribery while the state case is about campaign donations.
• Her sister and niece both said they never gave to campaigns, yet donations totaling tens of thousands of dollars showed up in their names.
• Critics say the repeated delays are hard to justify since it is a simple document-based, white-collar case that should have been ready long ago.

Outlook: If the plea talks fall through, the straw-donor trial will go ahead; if they succeed, Otani would avoid trial altogether.