Posted on: Friday, October 22, 2004

Murder defendant said to be incompetent at time of crime

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

Two of three members of a court-appointed panel have concluded that a man charged with murder in the death of a 71-year-old victim who was shoved into the Ala Wai Canal in 2002 was not mentally competent.

Deputy Public Defender Walter Rodbey is relying on those findings in asking that Cline Kahue be acquitted by reason of insanity in the death of former Honolulu Star-Bulletin freelance writer Jack Wyatt and assaulting two women along the Waikiki waterway the morning of June 18, 2002.

Deputy Prosecutor Russell Uehara will urge Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario to convict Kahue in the nonjury murder trial that got under way yesterday.

Uehara, however, won't be able to argue that Kahue should be criminally responsible because he deliberately did not take his medication knowing that his mental condition would deteriorate and that he would become violent.

Kahue, 50, is accused of the unprovoked daylight rampage that raised concerns about crime in the resort area as well as the handling of the mentally ill in the community.

Kahue, a graduate of Punahou High School and the University of California at Davis, did not show any signs of mental problems until he began to hear voices in his mid-20s, then committed assaults and obtained acquittals by reason of insanity, according to the experts' reports.

He had also been committed to the Hawai'i State Hospital, but was living alone at a Waikiki apartment the day of the offenses.

Dressed in a jacket, aloha shirt and slacks, the white-haired Kahue sat quietly during the trial, sometimes slightly quivering in his seat.

Rodbey is not contesting that Kahue shoved Wyatt into the canal or assaulted the two women. Wyatt struck his head and drowned. One woman was punched in the jaw and the other was tackled by Kahue and both fell into the canal.

Dennis Donovan, a clinical psychologist and a member of the court-appointed panel, testified yesterday that he concluded Kahue "most likely" was mentally impaired. Kahue's behavior was due to his psychosis, delusional thinking, hearing voices and also an underlying anger he's harbored over the years that is unleashed when he's not on medication, Donovan said.

Donovan said the "most likely" reason Kahue's mental condition deteriorated was that he deliberately went off his medication.

But Del Rosario ruled that the reasons why Kahue went off his medication is an issue for after trial should he be acquitted by reason of insanity. At that point, the judge must decide whether Kahue poses a danger and should be committed to the state hospital.

Uehara acknowledged that courts here have never addressed the issue of whether defendants can still be convicted because of their decisions not to take medication.

Del Rosario said he was bound by state law that reserves that issue for the post trial hearing.

Panel member Thomas Merrill, a clinical psychologist, concluded Kahue was legally insane, while psychiatrist D. Douglas Smith reported he could not reach an opinion on the issue.

The trial resumes Oct. 29.

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