STAR-BULLETIN / JULY 2006 Adam Mau-Goffredo is the suspect in the triple shooting at Tantalus. His attorney says he is uncooperative.

Accused Tantalus killer called unfit by attorney

A court hearing this morning will address whether an accused triple murderer who fancies himself a Vatican prelate is mentally fit for trial.

A three-member, court-appointed panel has already deemed Adam Mau-Goffredo fit to stand trial in the murder of three people at Tantalus on July 6 last year.

But his attorney, Brook Hart, insists that Mau-Goffredo is not only mentally unfit, but also is refusing to cooperate with the defense.

Court records show that Mau-Goffredo increasingly rebuffs his attorneys or the psychologists they retained to evaluate him. He has vehemently refused tests to determine medical suspicions that he has damage to the frontal lobes of his brain.

Hart, a prominent local defense lawyer, has represented thousands of defendants and about a dozen who were later deemed mentally unfit.

"None of these clients, however, have proved to be so challenging to effectively represent as Adam Mau," Hart wrote in court documents.

New York psychologist Xavier Amador, who spent seven hours with Mau-Goffredo -- as opposed to an hour for each of the three court-appointed experts -- says Mau-Goffredo believes he can summon the pope to secure his release from prison.

The belief, Amador said, "is so psychotic, despite the relatively large dosage of Seroquel that Mr. Mau is receiving, that it causes me to wonder whether Mr. Mau will ever be competent to stand trial."

Mau-Goffredo has stated in court records that his schizophrenia was caused by being drugged by agents in Canada in 1997, and again in 2002 on a boat cruise. However, Mau-Goffredo said he believes he was cured of the illness when he was given Haldol after attacking a prison guard last September.

"It is frankly impossible for several reasons, not the least of which is that we do not yet have a cure for schizophrenia," Amador said.

Another expert, Roger Likewise, met with Mau-Goffredo in July. Likewise said he believes Mau-Goffredo cooperated with the court-appointed doctors only because he believed he would be released as a result, "much like a prisoner of war may cooperate only as much as necessary to keep captors at bay."

During the July meeting, Mau-Goffredo dictated to Hart a letter to the pope, asking for over-the-counter drugs, guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

He also directed the letter to "be sent to the leader of the Vatican government and the U.S. I'm the leader of the government over there."

Pyschologist Pablo Stewart asked Mau-Goffredo why he cooperated with the previous set of experts. He replied, "Mind control."

Mau-Goffredo also seems to believe that the U.S. government influenced his decision to kill and that he is owed freedom by the federal government, the Vatican and Japan, court records state.

Mau-Goffredo hopes to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. He faces multiple charges, including first- and second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and burglary.

Taxi driver Manh Nguyen drove Mau-Goffredo up to Tantalus, where he was shot. Kapahulu couple Jason and Colleen Takamori, who were at the lookout to take pictures, also were shot to death.

Mau-Goffredo also allegedly held up a Round Top couple and their housekeeper at gunpoint, bound them with tape and stole the couple's car.

This morning's hearing will be before Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario.