Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai‘i — A Big Island judge has ruled that one of two defendants in the 1994 killing of a Kaua‘i man is mentally unfit for trial.
Judge Riki May Amano said Oliver L. White, 27, of North Dakota suffers from organic brain damage and cannot assist in his own defense. Amano said White received head injuries in an automobile accident six years ago and suffers from memory loss.
White and co-defendant Jason K. Santos, 29, are accused in the Sept. 30, 1994, death of Vernon Souza Jr., 31, of Kaua‘i. Souza, a horse trader, was visiting Hilo when he was robbed and his throat was cut. His burned body was found along remote Saddle Road.
Santos also has offered a mental incapacity defense. The judge has not ruled yet in his case.
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