AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM Warren Matsuda, son of slain chef Thomas Matsuda, expressed relief yesterday after a judge convicted Tam Van Huynh of murder.

Hotel worker convicted
in killing

A judge rules that Tam Van Huynh
knew right from wrong when
he killed a hotel chef

---

By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

Family members of slain executive chef Thomas Matsuda wept tears of relief yesterday upon learning their father's killer had been convicted.

"We expected it," Warren Matsuda, 27, the eldest of Thomas Matsuda's three children, said outside the courtroom at District Court as his mother, siblings and other family members huddled nearby.

He said the family can now take that first step toward closure. But "it didn't feel like we won anything because we lost so much."

Tam Van Huynh, a former pantry worker at the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel, was found guilty as charged yesterday of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing Matsuda, 49, the hotel's executive chef, on Dec. 1, 2000.

Circuit Judge Sandra Simms ruled yesterday that Huynh, then 39, knew right from wrong and could control his actions when he attacked his boss with a kitchen knife. She also said the evidence did not show Huynh was under extreme mental and emotional distress.

The defense argued at trial that Huynh suffered from a mental illness that impaired his ability to know right from wrong or control his actions. Huynh was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic in 1992 and has been treated for it in the past. He was not being treated or under medication at the time of the attack.

The state did not dispute Huynh was mentally ill, but he was not insane, said Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader.

Trader said Huynh became upset over a change in his schedule, and when he could not get Matsuda to change it, he decided to take it out on him.

Matsuda's death occurred during the prime of his life, both professionally and personally -- he had worked his way up the ranks in 22 years at the Sheraton to executive chef without having gone to culinary school.

Although a conviction is what the state had sought, "it's still a sad day," Trader said. "Tom Matsuda, without good reason at all, was taken from his family, friends and a career that certainly he was good at and enjoyed doing."

Huynh will be sentenced Oct. 8 to the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Trader said he expects to seek a higher-than-normal minimum term when Huynh appears before the Hawaii Paroling Authority.

"Mr. Huynh is an extremely dangerous individual and should remain locked up for some time," Trader said.

During trial, Trader brought up two incidents in 1998 where Huynh pulled a knife on co-workers for innocuous reasons. Because Huynh did not carry out those threats, it showed he could control his actions, Trader had argued at trial.

Two of three court-appointed psychiatrists who examined Huynh had concluded that although he did suffer from a mental disease, he could understand right from wrong and was able to control his actions.

Defense attorney Nelson Goo said he expects to file an appeal at sentencing.

Goo had argued at trial that Huynh, whose family has a history of mental illness, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and that he was having a delusional episode at the time of the attack.

Huynh also suffered similar episodes brought on by his mental illness during the two 1998 incidents, Goo said.