A federal judge ruled this afternoon that former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his deputy prosecutor wife Katherine Kealoha will have one trial by themselves and a second one with four former members of the Honolulu Police Department’s elite Criminal Intelligence Unit.

U.S. District Chief Judge J. Michael Seabright said he would prefer to hold the trial involving just the Kealohas first, probably in November. That trial will involve charges accusing the Kealohas of lying on loan applications.

The other trial will be for charges accusing the Kealohas, Derek Wayne Hahn, Minh-Hung “Bobby” Nguyen, Daniel Sellers and Gordon Shiraishi of staging the fake theft of the Kealohas’ mailbox then lying about it.

The lawyers for the defendants and the government will return to court next Thursday to tell Seabright which trial they would like to have first.