Advertiser Courts Writer

A state judge this morning acquitted by reason of insanity a 22-year-old man accused of repeatedly stabbing his mother and aunt and then burning down a Kailua home.

Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall also found Micah White to be a danger and committed him to the Hawai'i State Hospital in Kane'ohe.

White was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his mother Kerry White, 48, and his aunt, Sharon White, 58, but city prosecutors and defense agreed to a set of facts involving the stabbings and fire at the Kainui Drive home April 5, 2004.

All five mental health experts who evaluated Micah White found that his mental illness impaired his ability to know right from wrong or to conform his conduct to the law, the legal test for an insanity acquittal.

The experts found that White was under a delusion that his mother and aunt were vampires and were about to kill him.

Based on that record, Crandall issued the insanity acquittal and commitment the man to the hospital.

If convicted of first-degree murder, White would have faced a mandatory life term without parole, the state's most severe sentence.

It's unclear how long White will remain at the hospital.