A 36-year-old man who was acquitted by reason of insanity in a 2005 attempted murder case on Maui escaped yesterday from the Hawai'i State Hospital in Kane'ohe.

Police said Casey Nies was reported missing from the hospital at about 9 a.m. yesterday. Nies apparently walked off the property unnoticed, police said.

Police searched the area surrounding the hospital, but were unable to find him.

Nies is 5 feet 11 and 145 pounds, with a bald head and brown beard. He has scars on his left ankle and hip, police said. His aliases include Casey Strome Machado, Casey Strom Nies and Gad Fairchild.

Nies is considered dangerous, police said. Anyone with information on him should call 911 or CrimeStoppers at 955-8300.

In 2003, Nies was arrested and charged with first-degree attempted murder after he allegedly attacked a Maui police officer with a samurai sword outside a Kihei drugstore. Nies, who had slashed a man, was shot in the pelvis by police when he refused drop the sword.

A judge declared him unfit to stand trial after a panel of mental health experts declared him as "actively psychotic." He was committed to the State Hospital for treatment.