Killer of chef claims he had mental illness

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Sheraton Waikiki hotel food service worker who stabbed executive sous chef Tom Matsuda to death was involved in two prior incidents with co-workers in the hotel kitchen and had a large knife in his hands both times, a city deputy prosecutor said yesterday.

A change in his work schedule upset pantry worker Tam Van Huynh. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Matsuda was stabbed after telling Huynh he would have to work a Sunday shift that was just one hour different than his normal shift on Sunday, Trader said .

Huynh's lawyer, Nelson Goo, did not deny that Huynh stabbed Matsuda. But Goo told District Judge Sandra Simms, who is presiding over the jury-waived trial, that Huynh was mentally ill at the time of the stabbing, preventing him from knowing that what he was doing was wrong, and could not control his anger.

The workplace violence case is eerily similar to that of copier repairman Byran Uyesugi, who gunned down seven co-workers at a Xerox warehouse on Nimitz Highway in November 1999.

Both men showed signs of violence but were allowed to remain on the job after their completion of anger-management programs.

A jury rejected Uyesugi's insanity defense and convicted him of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life without parole, the harshest penalty allowed by Hawai'i law.

Goo told Simms that Huynh, now 41, had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic eight years prior to Matsuda's stabbing, but his condition went untreated. He was suffering from severe headaches and was hearing voices when the stabbing occurred, Goo said.

He said Huynh "escaped the ravages of war" 21 years ago when he fled Vietnam and came to the United States. He had worked at the Sheraton for 12 years, Goo said, but was described by co-workers, after the attack on Matsuda, as a "real quiet loner" who possessed an "emotionless blank stare" and as someone suffering from "war shock."

Goo said that the stabbing essentially took place "in broad daylight" and that Huynh had no plan of attack or a planned escape route.

After the incident, Huynh walked to a hotel security guard and told him over and over again, "He changed my schedule, he changed my schedule." Those actions are indicative of someone with a mental disorder, Goo said.

The defense lawyer said three mental health experts who examined Huynh all agreed that he was suffering from some form of mental illness and "was not faking it."

"In fact, he has tried to deny being mentally ill although it's been very well documented," Goo said.

"A one-hour change in scheduling led to death," Goo said.

He said he will ask Simms to find Huynh not guilty by reason of insanity and that he was acting "under extreme mental disturbance" when he stabbed Matsuda.

Trader, meanwhile, said that although all three mental health experts who examined Huynh concluded he was suffering from a mental illness, two of the three concluded he was not impaired to the point that he did not realize what he was doing was wrong.

Two of the three experts also agreed that Huynh was capable of controlling his behavior, he said.

Those who came in contact with Huynh after the stabbing described him as "not hysterical, not incoherent and not acting crazy," Trader said. "In fact, they described him as quite rational, coherent and cooperative," he said.

He said the evidence will show that Huynh was not under the influence of an extreme mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the stabbing.

"This is a case where the defendant got mad over a schedule change, didn't get his way, and killed Tom Matsuda," Trader said.

"This is a simple case of second-degree murder," Trader told Simms.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.