Mau-Goffredo pleads not guilty to 3 shootings

By Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com

Adam Mau-Goffredo, shackled at his hands and feet, pleaded not guilty yesterday to multiple murder charges stemming from the shooting deaths of three people at a Tantalus lookout on July 6.

His lawyers agreed with the state's request to hold him without bail until trial, which is set for Sept. 18 before Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario.

"There is no condition or combination of conditions of bail which would reasonably assure the safety of the community," said Circuit Judge Derrick Chan.

Mau-Goffredo, 23, stood straight and attentive but showed no emotion and did not speak during his arraignment in Circuit Court. His attorney, Brook Hart, entered the not-guilty plea for him.

Mau-Goffredo faces 18 counts, including charges of first- and second-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, theft and firearm violations. He is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center.

Prosecutors allege that Mau-Goffredo murdered 50-year-old taxicab driver Manh Nguyen and a Kapahulu couple, Jason and Colleen Takamori, both 53, with gunshots to the head. After the shootings, prosecutors allege, Mau-Goffredo got into Nguyen's cab and drove to the Round Top Drive residence of Joe and Francine Gedan, where he tied up the couple and a housekeeper at gunpoint. Mau-Goffredo was driving the Gedans' Jaguar when he was captured by police.

Chan granted the prosecutor's request to subpoena records from Mau-Goffredo's psychiatrist Dr. Richard Gibson but agreed to the doctor's request to keep the records under seal.

After the hearing, Mau-Goffredo's attorney said he had not received the results of a blood sample taken from Mau-Goffredo at the cellblock as part of a routine drug test.

"I still do not have any notice of the precise results, but I've heard that the results were negative," Hart said. "It's just hearsay."

Hart has suggested Mau-Goffredo might use an insanity defense.

Del Rosario, the trial judge assigned to Mau-Goffredo's case, has found a defendant not guilty because of insanity before.

In a jury-waived trial in 2004, Del Rosario found Cliff Kahue, who suffered from schizophrenia, was not criminally responsible for the death of Star-Bulletin freelance sportswriter Jack Wyatt and sent Kahue back to the Hawaii State Hospital for treatment.



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