Low bail cited in latest murder-suicide
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
A murder-suicide on the Big Island last week by a man who repeatedly violated a Family Court restraining order has led to calls for higher bail and mental examinations of offenders in certain domestic-abuse cases.
Nat Eckman, 33, repeatedly threatened to kill former girlfriend Ashley McDonald and was arrested twice this month for violating a temporary restraining order filed by the wo-man. In both cases he was released on bail.
Family court records indicate Nat Eckman had a long history of domestic violence.
Mary Ann Holzl-Davis, the Big Island deputy prosecutor who pursued charges against Eckman for violating the restraining order, said police and prosecutors need to review the bail schedule to decide whether bail should be higher in such cases.
When someone such as Eckman repeatedly violates a restraining order, "that's something where we need to say, 'What is going on, and do we need to hold him?' " she said.
"Everybody feels horrible; this is just awful. But I think the thing to do is to learn from it and try to prevent it in the future."
Eckman went to the Hawaiian Acres house of McDonald's parents Oct. 19 to visit his 3-year-old daughter, whom he had with McDonald. The girl lived with grandparents John and Doraline McDonald on Road 1 in the Puna subdivision.
As the visitation was ending shortly before 8:15 p.m., Eckman shot the couple with a small-caliber handgun and left with the little girl, police said. Eckman then dropped the girl at a friend's house, traveled to another house in Hawaiian Acres and shot himself with a rifle. Police said they found empty packets with crystal methamphetamine residue in his car.
John McDonald, 62, died of gunshot wounds to the upper body, and Doraline McDonald, 57, was hospitalized at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu with gunshot wounds to the face and head. Medical privacy laws have prevented the release of information about her condition.
John McDonald will be honored at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow with a silent march at Honolulu Hale sponsored by opponents of domestic violence. Similar marches are held after almost every domestic violence-related slaying of an adult in Hawai'i, with about nine to a dozen marches held each year.
"It's a way for us to let the community know that we will not forget those who are suffering in violent relationships, and certainly not those who lost their lives," said Joe Bloom, an organizer of the march. "It's for the family and for the community."
Bloom, who is co-director of therapeutic services for Catholic Charities Family Services, said Eckman's case demonstrates that when someone repeatedly violates a restraining order and makes death threats, "those are the cases where our judiciary and law enforcement need to have their hands untied."
Family court records indicate Eckman had a long history of domestic violence, with three women seeking restraining orders against him over the years.
Ashley McDonald, 20, said in her filing for a restraining order that she had been with Eckman for six years and lived with him for more than five years before the couple split up in April. McDonald alleged Eckman regularly assaulted her during their relationship and stalked her after they broke up.
On different occasions he threatened to shoot her, stab her or cut her throat, according to her court filings. At the time of the shootings, police were looking for Eckman to arrest him for yet another alleged violation of the restraining order.
In cases where there have been multiple violations of a restraining order and multiple threats made, the suspect should be held at a hospital or jail long enough for an expert to assess his mental health, Bloom said.
"This guy was in one of his episodes of rage and should never have been bailed out of jail," he said.
Linda Slutter, the Alternatives to Violence programs director for the Big Island, said she believes people arrested for restraining-order violations should be required to post a $10,000 cash bond before they are released.
Eckman, who was arrested for multiple violations, was required to post $2,000 bail or less for each violation.
Dean Yamashiro, the state's chief deputy public defender, said most people obey restraining orders, and changing the law to make the system tougher could prevent the release of a lot people who don't necessarily need to be locked up.
There are other ways to approach the problem, he said. If a person is mentally ill and is a threat to himself or others, that person can already be held for observation and evaluation, Yamashiro said.
In cases where a person has repeatedly made threats, felony terroristic threatening charges can be filed, he said.
Eckman was charged with terroristic threatening, but was released on bail.
Yamashiro also said that in cases where a judge decides a person is dangerous, the judge has the authority to set a higher bail.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
