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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, December 14, 2009

Body could be Yagi's


By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Robert Yagi

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Honolulu police and the city medical examiner's office said they would not comment until today about reports that a man was found dead yesterday at the Kailua home of Robert Yagi.

Yagi, 71,was charged with second-degree attempted murder after allegedly shooting his wife on Tuesday in her hospital bed at Castle Medical Center.

Yagi was scheduled to make his initial court appearance tomorrow in a case that reignited the debate in the Islands over physician-assisted suicide and end-of-life care while also spurring hospitals to review their security policies.

The medical examiner's office said last night that it did not yet have a positive identification on a case that was classified yesterday as an unattended death.

Yagi was out on bail when paramedics yesterday pronounced a man dead at Yagi's Ululani Street home, according to media reports.

On Thursday, police charged Yagi after he allegedly shot his wife, Leatrice, also 71, as she lay in her hospital bed.

Police said they believed Yagi attempted to kill his wife because she suffers from a terminal illness, according to a police affidavit filed in District Court.

Police alleged that Yagi tried to shoot his wife with a shotgun shell loaded into a flare gun and said they believed that Yagi also wanted to kill himself.

Leatrice Yagi suffered minor injuries in the shooting and remains in the hospital.

Yagi was released on $50,000 bail on Friday and Castle Medical Center banned him from visiting the hospital.