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XEROX SHOOTINGS
Verdict in
Uyesugi trial
prompts new
stage of grief
Experts say closure won't
Prosecutor praises his 'brain trust'
come quickly or easily, or
may never come, for the
families of the Xerox
shooting victims
Could Xerox have prevented deaths?
Cayetano hopes verdict helps families
Family, friends crucial for mentally illBy Debra Barayuga
Star-BulletinThey were brought together by a sudden outburst of violence that lasted only minutes. They lost husbands, partners and soul mates because of the actions of one man.
And yet what struck Mari McCaig about the wives of the seven victims in the Xerox shootings was that they were still able to find humor in things.
"It doesn't mean they won't have setbacks and there will be days they won't do so well, but it does show they're going through a healthy grieving process," said the victim witness advocate with the city prosecutor's office.
Some people had hoped Tuesday's verdict in the multiple murder trial would bring closure to an event that shocked the community and shattered the notion of Hawaii as far removed from the workplace violence reported on the mainland.
But the sense of closure -- that something is over and done with -- probably will never occur, experts say.
"When there's a major trauma in our lives, it changes us permanently in some ways that it's never over," said Honolulu psychologist Kathleen Brown. "But there is a process of grief people can move through and come to a level of understanding and integration in their lives that allows them to begin anew."
McCaig described grief as a "very personal, individual journey." said. People express grief and deal with it in different ways. What works for one may not work for all. Each individual must find what works for them, Brown said.
Those who grieve experience different stages including denial, shock, anger, depression and acceptance. These emotions can occur simultaneously and not necessarily in that order. And they can occur over and over again, reactivated by an event such as the birth of a child or a holiday.
The desire to share with the person who's no longer a part of their life can be quite intense, Brown said. What's important is to acknowledge each stage and work through it.
The grief process involves understanding the loss of a loved one, how that person contributed to their lives and finding other ways to get those needs met, Brown said.
Some people find sharing their grief with others in support groups helpful. Others find creative outlets such as writing or painting, or use physical exercise where they can discharge frustration or anger.
Friends need to observe carefully the most helpful method of grieving for a particular family member and not make assumptions about the right way to grieve, Brown said.
Seeking professional help is not always the answer. But it may be necessary in instances where a person goes through prolonged periods of not being able to get out of bed to face the day or go to work or they withdraw from social activities, Brown said.
It can take 18 months to two years before someone who is grieving resumes what they consider their usual routines. But it doesn't mean they're not grieving inside, she said.
"Unfortunately in our society there's an expectation that after a few months a person should be back to the usual ways of the world -- but it's a longer process than that."
Brown advises friends and family members to understand that their loved ones' grief is normal, to listen to their needs and respond to it.
Establishing rituals such as holding a memorial service or visiting a loved one's grave every Sunday and leaving flowers are very important in the grieving process, Brown said. "It gives voice to the emotions and honors the impact of what has happened."
For the family members of Jason Balatico, Melvin Lee, Ford Kanehira, John Sakamoto, Peter Mark, Ronald Kawamae and Ron Kataoka, sitting through the trial helped them understand what happened, even if it meant listening to testimony or viewing exhibits that made them uncomfortable, McCaig said.
Going through the grieving process is difficult, much less having to sit through the criminal justice process. "But I think overall it was helpful."
One of the wives mentioned she found it difficult "breathing the same air as the man who killed her husband," McCaig said. And yet the woman returned day after day to sit through hours of testimony.
All the wives mentioned that when they said goodbye to their husbands that morning, they expected them home that evening, McCaig said.
"When something like this happens, it turns your whole world upside down. They didn't just lose a partner, but a husband, father, lover, confidant and source of financial support."
And in the midst of all that's happening, they're forced to make major decisions on their own while trying to take care of their children, their children's grief and their own. "This is a very difficult experience for each one of them."
The wives were very supportive of each other, forming a bond that's incredible to watch, McCaig said.
Families for the first time Tuesday were shown photographs of their loved ones as they were found in the Xerox building shortly after the Nov. 2 shootings.
While pictorial renderings of the crime scene and detailed testimony by medical examiners who viewed the bodies at the scene were presented during trial, seeing the actual photographs was an issue for family members because they had been denied access to the crime scene, McCaig said.
Some wives said they couldn't even remember what aloha shirt or clothing their husbands wore that day to work.
Each of the victims' families is expected to prepare a victim witness statement, which is made part of a report the court considers in making a sentencing recommendation.
Describing how the crime has affected them psychologically, financially or in other ways can be therapeutic.
While it won't change anything that has happened, it gives families a sense of some control and that they're doing something, said McCaig, who feels privileged to have worked with the wives and be included in their grieving process.
If there's anything good that comes out of this whole situation, she said, "I know they will find it."
Xerox killings
Uyesugi verdict
Prosecutor praises
By Suzanne Tswei
his ‘brain trust’
Star-BulletinVictory, if you can call it that, was not sweet.
"I don't see how anybody can celebrate when seven good men were killed," said Chris Van Marter, one of the three-member legal team that successfully prosecuted Xerox gunman Byran Uyesugi on a first-degree murder charge.
The guilty verdict was what the prosecution team had hoped for -- and even predicted -- for the worst multiple killing in Hawaii's history. But there was no fanfare for the two deputy prosecutors who played key roles in presenting the state's case.
"Usually I feel pretty good when I get a guilty verdict, but I can't say that about the Uyesugi case," said Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Takata.
At best, Takata said the verdict brought a sense of relief after four months of all-consuming work on the case.
"I am definitely not elated. But I am satisfied with the outcome," Takata said yesterday as he tried to get back to his normal duties as trials division chief of the prosecutor's office.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, the lead attorney, said he marked the successful verdict by having a quart of beer and a slice of Boston cream pie with his evening meal. "But that's pretty much about it," Carlisle said.
During the 13-day trial which began May 15, Carlisle made clear the contributions Takata and Van Marter were making in the case. Often, Carlisle jokingly referred to himself as "the mouth" and his two deputies as "the brain trust."
Another team member key to the state's case was Deputy Prosecutor Paul Mow, who drew up the visual presentations that helped drive home points that the prosecution was making, Carlisle said. Describing himself as "technically challenged," Carlisle had to stop his presentations a few times during the trial to call on Mow for instructions on which buttons to push in order to call up the correct slides.
"I couldn't have done it without them. This was a team effort," Carlisle said. "It's just that it was my vocal box that was used."
But Carlisle was no mere front man: He also made wise decisions that were crucial and favorable to the prosecution, Takata said.
"It was very unusual to show photos of the crime scene at the end of a trial. Usually those photos are shown at the beginning. But we wanted to show them at closing arguments to make an emotional impact on the jury.
"That was Peter's call and it was a good one. In fact, I may borrow it myself in the future," Takata said.
Making an emotional impact on jurors was particularly important after they had a 10-day break while Judge Marie Milks took a scheduled leave for the mainland, Takata said. As the prosecutors learned later from the jurors, photos of the victims lying lifeless at the crime scene tipped the case in the prosecution's favor.
Takata and Van Marter both said they were confident of the jurors returning a guilty verdict on first-degree murder because the evidence against Uyesugi was "overwhelming." They thought the jurors would need a couple of days to reach a decision. But the six men and six women reached a unanimous decision in an hour and 20 minutes.
"I thought it was a good sign they came back so fast. But before the verdict was read in court -- when I noticed there were only three forms the judge handed to the clerk to read -- right then and there I knew it was guilty as charged," Van Marter said.
One form was for the murder charge, one form was for the names of the victims, and the third form was for the attempted-murder charge, Van Marter said. If the jurors had acquitted Uyesugi by reason of insanity or found him guilty on the lesser charge of second-degree murder, the number of forms would have been different.
Van Marter said he was pleased the jurors returned the guilty verdict, but it was not a joyful occasion as he sensed the pain of the victims' families sitting behind him in the courtroom.
Considering the number of lives lost and ruined in the multiple killing, Van Marter and Takata both found the Uyesugi case to be the most emotionally disturbing of all the murders they have tried.
"In the end we got the verdict we wanted, but it seems so inadequate when you consider so many people were killed," said Takata, who has handled about 20 murder trials.
"I don't see it as a victory," said Van Marter, who has tried 15 murder cases. "The bottom line is, seven people were killed unlawfully, and so many families will have wives and children without their husbands and fathers. I don't see any victory in that."
Xerox killings
Uyesugi verdict
State checks to see
By Crystal Kua
if Xerox could have
prevented deaths
Star-BulletinManagement policies, organizational practices, response tactics and resources, training activities and awareness.
All these elements of Xerox Corp.'s operations are under investigation by the state Occupational Safety and Health Division.
The purpose of the investigation is to determine if Xerox did everything it could to prevent the Nov. 2 fatal shootings of seven of its employees by another worker at its Nimitz Highway warehouse.
"What are the management procedures are in place? Is there an alert system signal if they think is something wrong?" These are among questions investigators will be asking said division spokesman Patrick Stanley. And with Byran Uyesugi now convicted of the killings, investigators have another tool for their probe -- files from the criminal case.
The Occupational Safety and Health Division (part of the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations) investigates any time there is death or significant injury at a work site, Stanley said. In the Xerox case, the division began its investigation the day of the shootings, he said.
Past cases the division has investigated include: the January 1996 deaths of three men while working on construction of the Subaru telescope atop Mauna Kea; a February 1996 Sand Island standoff in which gunman John Miranda was killed at his former workplace, and the 1990 death of a man working on the then-uncompleted H-3 freeway. The division is the authority in Hawaii for enforcing federal OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations.
Now that Uyesugi's trial is over, prosecutors may turn over some files for Occupational Safety investigators. The focus of the investigation has not changed, Stanley said, but now "there's a new a set of information here in the form of evidence and court procedures."
Stanley said a workplace violence investigation is more complex than, say, a construction site accident. "It's complicated with the human factor," Stanley said.
Stanley said that Xerox has a general reputation in the business community of "doing the right thing by their employees" in that it recognizes good work, supports programs to counsel employees in difficult times and has activities that boost employee work teams in the community. If this holds true, it's "somewhat unlikely we'll find anything," Stanley said.
But Stanley said investigators will concentrate on the facts in this particular case and won't be ruling anything out at this point.
The investigation could take about six weeks after the division receives the information from prosecutors.
Fines of up to $50,000 could be levied if violations are found to have occurred.
Xerox killings
Uyesugi verdict
Cayetano hopes
Star-Bulletin staff
verdict will help
victims’ familiesGov. Ben Cayetano yesterday said he hopes the verdict in the Xerox shooting case brings "some closure" for the families of the victims.
"I think judging from what I saw on the news, many of the family members feel that this is something that had to happen before they really begin to let the events pass on," Cayetano said.
"The evidence was so overwhelming," Cayetano said, "and it seemed that the expert testimony was not convincing in favor of the insanity plea."
The governor said Byran Uyesugi suffered from some form of mental illness, but it was not enough to prevent him from understanding the difference between right and wrong.
"And the insanity defense is a very difficult defense," Cayetano said. "It's easier if the person is obviously insane -- if he thinks he is Adolph Hitler or something like that. But in this particular case, Uyesugi didn't exhibit those kind of symptoms so his defense was very, very difficult."
He said he doesn't believe the case will result in a call for reinstituting the death penalty in Hawaii. "I don't think the death penalty would have been a deterrent in this or many other cases."
Xerox killings
Uyesugi verdict
Family, friends
are crucial hope
for mentally illLoved ones must try to help
By Lori Tighe
sufferers cope with mental illness
-- despite denial and refusals of help
Star-BulletinWhen her daughter ran through the Royal Hawaiian Hotel screaming, "Where's my son? Where's my son?" Charlotte Boyd knew her daughter had snapped.
"Her son lived with his father in Boston," Boyd said.
When Mary A. Wilkowski's friend said he saw giraffes and lions roaming in the Queen's Hospital waiting room, she knew he had lost it.
"He was alternately scared and giggling," Wilkowski recalled.
Wilkowski and Boyd are among the many families and friends trying to help loved ones cope with mental illness -- despite denial and refusals of help.
The father and brother of Byran Uyesugi, who killed seven of his Xerox co-workers, are a high-profile example of the turmoil experienced by many such families.
The Uyesugis testified they saw Byran repeatedly bang his door frame and rip the carpet with a screwdriver to fight demon shadows.
Uyesugi's father suggested he seek professional help. The son went to a psychiatrist for a few visits but stopped going.
No matter how frustrating, families and friends should keep trying to help, according to mental health experts, because they are one of the ill person's best hopes.
"Statistically, people with mental illnesses who have supportive families do better," said Marion Poirier, executive director for the Hawaii chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or NAMI, the nation's largest mental health group.
Several resources in the state, such as NAMI, focus on families, because through them the ill person is helped.
"It is very common for family members to call us and report a loved one in denial over a mental illness," Poirier said. "It occurs every day."
One in five Americans have a mental health problem, according to the Mental Health Association in Hawaii. An estimated 240,000 people in the isles -- neighbors, friends, family members and co-workers -- are mentally ill. It touches nearly everyone whether they know it or not.
Doctors diagnosed Boyd's 25-year-old daughter, Alaina, with manic depression and called her frantic search for her son in the Royal Hawaiian a psychotic episode.The illness, also known as bipolar disorder, causes the person to suffer mountainous highs and deep lows.
Boyd calls her daughter "the love of my life," yet her lack of knowledge about mental illness made a tough situation even tougher.
"I was so uptight," Boyd said. "I didn't know when she would call, what she would do next. It was just a nightmare. I was embarrassed."
Now Boyd, a retired accountant in Honolulu, wants families to know what she didn't: They have options and help available.
"No matter what the loved one does, it's not the person, it's the illness," she said.
After her adopted daughter took her own life through a pill overdose in 1992, Boyd began going to support groups. "For a long time," she said, "I didn't tell anyone my daughter died."
As she began healing, Boyd made it her mission to understand mental illness and educate others. She now volunteers at NAMI as a board member and support group leader, and donates blood platelets. "I couldn't save my daughter, but with my platelets," Boyd said, "I might save someone else."
The stigma of mental illness causes many loved ones and their families to refuse help, Poirier said.
"People don't feel they can hold a job if they're receiving mental illness help," Poirier said. "It's part of mental illness to deny it."
The public still erroneously connects mental illness with violence, although studies have shown most mentally ill people are not violent, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Families themselves can be in denial and feel alone. "Isolation is a byproduct of denial," Poirier said. "It is nightmarish. They go through exhaustion. They lose sleep. Their quality of life deteriorates."
NAMI recommends families take care of themselves with rest, help and support. When they are not up to the challenges, Poirier said, they will not help the ill member.
"Families have to keep picking away at it," said Greg Farstrup, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Hawaii, "by surrounding the person and not giving up."
Wilkowski, a private attorney, did not know her dear friend Gordon Bronson suffered from mental illness until "late in the game," she said.
"It sank in because we were co-counsel on a case. We entered it June 18, and I took him to the hospital July 6," she said.
Wilkowski went to Bronson's office that day and found him pacing, drenched in sweat, with tears streaming down his face.
"One of my best friends was losing it before my very eyes," she said. "I felt so sorry for him."
Wilkowski took Bronson to Queen's Hospital, where he talked about seeing giraffes and lions in the waiting room.
Bronson, an attorney for 28 years, was shocked at his breakdown.
"I was desperately afraid. I couldn't picture myself in a lockdown unit. You have to get special permission to get a cup of coffee," he said. "I'm looking around thinking, 'Oh my God.'"
He went into therapy, went on medication and resigned from the bar shortly after leaving Queen's Hospital. He was diagnosed with clinical depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome from an abusive childhood.
"When I walked away from the hospital, I had no self-esteem. The best therapy is getting involved with an organization like NAMI, and don't sit at home. The self-esteem comes back," Bronson said.
"This is an illness not unlike diabetes, except it's going on in the mind."
Bronson, who now devotes his life to removing the stigma of mental illness, was appointed last month to the Governor's Council on Mental Illness.
"I wouldn't have gotten through it without the help of my friends. Mary literally nursed me back to health," he said.
Wilkowski talked with him on the phone daily and visited him weekly. She took him out to eat, and she listened.
"I was worried about him. I saw this as a huge hole he had fallen into," she said.
Wilkowski calls herself a loyal friend and says to herself, "There by the grace of God go I."
"Perhaps a lot of other people are holding it together by a tenuous thread. You don't know it if they don't share it with you. Mental illness is so intimate, people are reluctant to share it."
Resources for families and friends of loved ones suffering from mental illness: Fighting frustration
with action
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) -- A state program offering follow-up care for people with mental illness. Call 851-7295.
On the Web:
Xerox killings
Uyesugi verdict
