CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Tam Van Huynh looked over photographs of the crime scene yesterday with his interpreter, Tuan Jensen-Lech, in District Court.

Trial begins in fatal
stabbing of chef in Waikiki

The defendant is pleading
not guilty by reason of insanity

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

The attorney for a former pantry worker at the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel says his client was insane when he fatally stabbed his boss, the hotel's executive chef, on Dec. 1, 2000.

Tam Van Huynh is pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of 49-year-old Thomas Matsuda.

Huynh's attorney, Nelson Goo, told Circuit Judge Sandra Simms that his client, a paranoid schizophrenic who was off his medication, was greatly disturbed when asked to simply change his schedule by one hour.

Huynh, 41, sat in the courtroom shaking in his seat during part of the first day of his jury-waived murder trial yesterday, while about a dozen Matsuda family members also attended.

Two out of three court-appointed psychiatrists say Huynh did know right from wrong and could control his actions when he stabbed Matsuda, Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader said.

On the day of the murder, Huynh talked with Matsuda in his office for two to three minutes about the schedule change, but there was no screaming or swearing by either man, Trader said.

Matsuda's secretary will testify for the prosecution that Huynh's body language showed he was upset -- arms stiff by his side, fists clenched, head shaking -- after the short conversation.

Huynh left and returned five minutes later with the kitchen knife he used in his regular duties, said Trader, displaying a large image of the bloody knife.

Trader described Matsuda as having worked his way up the ranks to executive chef of the entire hotel without the benefits of culinary school.

Over the objection of Goo, the prosecution brought up two separate 1998 incidents where Huynh threatened co-workers with a knife for little or no reason.

Trader contends that the fact that Huynh did not carry out the threats shows he could control his actions, but Goo said there was intervention in those cases.

Goo said the two experts, who believe Huynh did know right from wrong, missed prior diagnoses of mental illness in Sheraton records.

Sheraton sent Huynh to anger management classes in 1999 that failed to consider his schizophrenia , Goo said. Huynh was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic in 1992, said Goo.

According to the defense, Huynh's co-workers say, "He's in war shock," having seen his siblings shot to death during the Vietnam War.

"He's crazy. He has this blank stare. He's emotionless."

Huynh acted in broad daylight, with many witnesses, no plan, no escape route and repeatedly said, "He changed my schedule," Goo said.

Huynh is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Facility, where he has heard voices and is being treated for mental illness, Goo added.

OCCC doctors have initiated their own psychiatric treatment of Huynh.

The trial is expected to last until late April in part because of the availability of expert witnesses.