Accused killer
skipped medicine

Cline Kahue is charged with murder
in the death of a former sports writer

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

A mentally ill Waikiki man, accused of causing the death of former Star-Bulletin sports writer Jack Wyatt, apparently chose not to take his medication when faced with situations he did not like, according to a court-appointed psychologist.

When Cline Kahue failed to take his medication or comply with therapy, his mental condition worsened and he became aggressive and violent, wrote psychologist Dennis Donovan. On June 18 he allegedly pushed Wyatt into the canal, causing the freelance writer to strike his head on a concrete piling and drown.

"I do think it was Mr. Cline Kahue's decisions in the previous weeks that put him in that condition," Donovan said in a 24-page report to the court.

Kahue's public defender, Walter Rodby, could not be reached for comment.

Donovan, another psychologist and a psychiatrist were appointed by the courts to examine Kahue to determine whether he was fit to go to trial, as well as his state of mind during the attacks on Wyatt and two others along the Ala Wai Canal.

Based on these reports, Circuit Judge Reynaldo Graulty ruled Monday that Kahue was fit to proceed to trial on second-degree murder and assault charges.

Before the attacks, Kahue, 48, was living independently, appeared to have his illness under control and was participating in a treatment program three times a week, according to the report. He even managed to complete a college psychology course during the other two days of the week.

Donovan's report, filed Thursday, noted that decisions made both by Kahue's mental-health treatment providers but primarily by Kahue contributed to erosion of his condition.

In 1999 there were staff cutbacks at Kahue's group housing, and he was being monitored less, according to the report. In 2000 he was living by himself and was taking his medication without being monitored. He reported being lonely at night. And in 2002, because his treatment team believed he was stable and viewed him as a treatment success, he was in the process of being referred to a lower level of mental health services.

He reportedly told a treatment team member that he did not want to go because he "needed the support," Donovan wrote.

In each of those situations, Kahue stopped taking his medication and fell apart, Donovan said.

"The most likely reason for this was to show his current health providers that he was still ill and that he needed the higher level of care that he was being transferred away from," he said.

Donovan said he believes Kahue was losing his opportunity to socialize with his support group, the source of his self-esteem. "I think he was going from a situation where he was being viewed as being special to one where he might be viewed as simply another client."

Previous doctor's reports indicate that Kahue has a history of hostility toward Caucasians and has described hearing voices telling him to attack and kill them.

Kahue's dissatisfaction with how he was being treated was noted in a report by the Queen's Medical Center on June 16, the same day he was allowed to leave the hospital's psychiatric unit at his request -- and two days before the attacks.

The report noted Kahue complained his treating physicians were not listening to him and that he was given too much medication, Donovan wrote.

Two months after the attacks and while receiving treatment at the Hawaii State Hospital, Kahue expressed hope that he would get better with medication, according to D. Douglas Smith, another doctor who examined him.

Kahue said he regretted hurting people at the Ala Wai, saying he "felt shocked and guilty."

He has been taking antipsychotic and mood-stabilizing medication and has not exhibited any aggression or threatening behavior, Smith reported. Kahue's attending doctor described him as a "model patient."