Insanity acquittal in Ala Wai Canal killing

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

A man who has been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia was acquitted by reason of insanity of murdering a 71-year-old man he pushed into the Ala Wai Canal in 2002.

Kahue

Kahue, 50, and his defense lawyer did not contest that he went on an unprovoked daylight rampage the morning of June 18, 2002, shoving former Honolulu Star-Bulletin freelance writer Jack Wyatt, who drowned in the Waikiki waterway, and assaulting two women.

Del Rosario acquitted Kahue of murder and assault charges. If convicted of the murder, Kahue would have faced a mandatory life prison term with parole.

In committing Kahue to the hospital, the judge said Kahue was a danger to himself and others.

Both Deputy Prosecutor Russell Uehara and Deputy Public Defender Walter Rodby said the judge made the proper decision.

"Mr. Kahue and his family extends his sympathy to all harmed," Rodby said. "He's asking for their forgiveness."

Uehara said the case was an unfortunate "no-win" situation for both the victims and defendant. "The defendant was an intelligent man who through no fault of his own developed schizophrenia," Uehara said.

The case raised concerns about violence in the Waikiki area as well the the care and treatment of the mentally ill in the community.

Del Rosario said Kahue had a lengthy history of mental health problems that started 1975 and included being hospitalized 14 times for an array of mental problems. The problems included anxiety disorder, schizophrenia and paranoid delusions, the judge said.

Five days before the attacks, Kahue was hospitalized for psychotic symptoms, but then voluntarily discharged himself two days before the incidents, the judge said.

At the time of his attacks, Kahue was living alone in a Waikiki apartment.

The judge concluded that Kahue suffered from a mental disorder that "substantially impaired" his ability to know right from wrong and control his behavior.

The judge cited the findings by two of three members of a court-appointed panel who found Kahue to be legally insane. The third panel member reported he could not reach a conclusion on the issue.

Although Kahue was supposed to take medication for his mental problems, Kahue stopped taking the drugs before the offenses, the experts reported.

Kahue, a graduate of Punahou School and the University of California at Davis, began deteriorating mentally in his 20s when he said he began to hear voices, the experts said.

He committed assaults, obtained insanity acquittals and spent time at the state hospital, according to the experts.

Dennis Donovan, a clinical psychologist and one of the panel members, testified during the trial that Kahue's behavior was due to his psychosis, delusional thinking, hearing voices and a simmering anger that's unleashed when he's not on medication.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.