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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, July 26, 2002

Suspect called unfit for trial

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Accused murderer Cline Kahue is a dangerous man tormented by voices that aren't there, expressing "homicidal hostility" toward Caucasians, and is so mentally ill that he is unfit to stand trial, according to court-ordered psychiatric reports released yesterday.

The reports were by three mental health experts who provided a glimpse of Kahue's troubled past in their evaluation of whether he is fit to stand trial.

Kahue, 48, of Waikiki, a former all-star high school football player and a former substitute teacher, is charged with one count of second-degree murder in the June 18 death of Star-Bulletin freelance writer Jack Wyatt, and two counts of second-degree assault in the attacks on two women that same day.

Wyatt, 71, drowned after he was shoved into the Ala Wai Canal.

Kahue was scheduled to be arraigned in Circuit Court yesterday, but the hearing was canceled when his court-appointed attorney filed a motion for a new evaluation by doctors to determine if Kahue is competent to stand trial. Three court-appointed doctors evaluated Kahue at the District Court level, but he was indicted July 18 and the case transferred to the Circuit Court requiring another evaluation.

Kahue is being held at the Hawai'i State Hospital.

Deputy Public Defender Walter Rodby is hoping his client never goes to trial. Rodby said the three doctors earlier supported the defense's claim that Kahue's mental illness prevents him from understanding the court proceedings.

"The guy is ill; he's seriously ill," Rodby said yesterday.

In his report, D. Douglas Smith chronicled Kahue's mental problems back to 1979 when Smith said Kahue began hearing voices. Smith, a psychiatrist in private practice, said Kahue refused to meet with him; Smith based his evaluation on medical records and interviews with Kahue's current treatment team.

For four years beginning in 1989, Smith said, Kahue was hospitalized in psychiatric wards suffering from psychosis and panic attacks. He began to show violent behavior in 1996 when he allegedly attacked his mother, Smith said.

During a 1997 probation hearing, Kahue ran from the courtroom and assaulted four people, including a pregnant woman and 5-year-old child, at a bus stop, Smith said.

Kahue was committed to the State Hospital, where the violent tendencies continued. But in March 2001, he was given his unconditional release from the hospital.

Three days before Wyatt's death, Kahue was taken to the The Queen's Medical Center because he may have taken too much medication. Despite making threatening remarks such as "kill haoles" and "kill females," he was discharged the next day, Smith said.

Kahue suffers from schizophrenia, Smith said, and was sent to the state hospital following his arrest in the Wyatt death. Kahue remains at the state hospital, where Smith said he has assaulted another patient.

"Mr. Kahue is dangerous," Smith wrote. "He poses a significant, ongoing risk of harm to the staff and patients of the state's secure psychiatric facility."

Two other doctors, Jarret Ko and Dennis Donovan, submitted letters that concurred with Smith's findings that Kahue is not competent to stand trial. Of the three, only Ko was able to examine Kahue.

Ko diagnosed Kahue as suffering from "probable" schizophrenia and a "possible" bipolar disorder.

"(Kahue) could not (or would not) answer most of the questions and displayed obvious confused behavior," Ko wrote to the court. "Considering his recent behavior, he must be considered a danger to himself and others."

Kahue's next scheduled court date is Oct. 1 before Circuit Judge Reynaldo Graulty. If he is deemed mentally incompetent, the prosecution would be further suspended until he is determined to be fit to stand trial, according to state law.