UPDATE: In May 2010, the state judge in David Bleecker’s arson case found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Bleecker was placed in the custody of the state health director for placement in the State Hospital. Bleecker’s now ex-wife denied his allegation that she left him and emptied their bank accounts, instead saying that he did that to her. And she said she never called police about Bleecker’s claim of being abducted by terrorists.

A University of Hawaii math professor awaiting his arson trial in state court told three court-appointed mental health examiners that he was homeless, hungry and out of money, so he started a fire to burn a hole in the door to his office to get some quarters in his desk drawer.

The examiners say in their reports to the court that David Dudley Bleecker, 62, is fit to stand trial for second-degree arson. But they say Bleecker is not responsible for his actions on June 11 last year at the UH-Manoa campus because he was suffering from bipolar, cognitive and other disorders and mental defects.

Bleecker is scheduled to stand trial Thursday. The prosecutor and his defense lawyer expect the judge will find him not guilty by reason of insanity.

He told one examiner, “The fire was stronger than expected so I thought maybe I should leave and warn anyone who is around.”

A witness told police Bleecker asked her whether she smelled smoke, told her he set fire to his third-floor office in the Physical Science Building and warned her to stay away from it.

Bleecker lost the key to his office while he was homeless. Instead of giving him a new key, university personnel unlocked his office for him when he wanted to get in and locked it when he left. No one was there to open his office on the day of the fire because it was the Kamehameha Day holiday.

Bleecker told his examiners he has a family history of severe mental illness and had a personal bout with mental illness and brief hospitalization when he was in graduate school.

University officials said Bleecker began displaying unusual behavior in the spring 2008 semester when he started showing his students movies during class time and sent them bizarre e-mails. One e-mail told them to attack the assistant dean with pepper spray and baseball bats in case he entered the classroom to protect their academic freedom.

By the summer of 2008 the university suspended Bleecker from teaching but continued to pay his salary. School officials also urged him to get checked for mental illness, but he refused.

Bleecker said his unusual behavior continued. He said he thought he was abducted by terrorists who demanded he withdraw his money from the bank and give it to them, which he did. He said he and his wife went to the police to file a report.

By December 2008, Bleecker said, his wife left him and emptied their joint bank accounts. He said he lost the lease to his condominium and misspent money on hotels. He also said he gave $100 bills to those less fortunate.

&nbsp