Casey Link entered no-contest pleas to two counts of third-degree sexual assault in connection with a Mid-Pacific Institute student, and First Circuit Court Judge Brian A. Costa accepted the pleas and found him guilty on both counts, according to Hawaii News Now. The conduct at issue occurred while Link was teaching at the Honolulu private school between 2022 and 2023. The student was 10 when the abuse was reported.
Link had been indicted in June 2025 on four counts of sexual assault of a minor. Under the plea agreement described in court by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thalia B.P. Murphy, the most serious count was dismissed, and Link pleaded no contest to counts two and four. A no-contest plea resolved those charges, but the prosecutor’s description of the underlying conduct remains an allegation attributed to the state.
What prosecutors told the court
Murphy said the alleged abuse occurred repeatedly in Link’s classroom while class was in session. She said the student had Link as her teacher in third and fourth grade and that the conduct began during story time while other students were present. The prosecutor described unwanted touching underlying the two counts. Hawaii News Now reported that the conduct was reported in December 2023.
School response and next hearing
Mid-Pacific said it notified appropriate agencies after receiving a mid-December 2023 report of alleged inappropriate contact involving a teacher and a student and cooperated with the Honolulu Police Department. The school placed Link on administrative leave, hired a third party to conduct an independent investigation, and terminated his employment in early January 2024 after that investigation concluded, according to the school statement reported by Hawaii News Now. The school said it remains committed to student safety.
Link is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 3. He faces a maximum indeterminate prison term of five years on each Class C felony count under Hawaii law, according to Hawaii Revised Statutes § 706-660, as reproduced by FindLaw. Third-degree sexual assault is a Class C felony, and Hawaii law provides for registration of people convicted of covered felony sex offenses under Chapter 846E, according to the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General.
