Doctors say
murder suspect
is mentally ill
They tell a judge that Cline
Kahue could not control himself
as he assaulted three people
A man accused of pushing a former Star-Bulletin freelance writer into the Ala Wai Canal, causing him to strike his head and drown more than two years ago, was unable to control his behavior, two medical experts testified yesterday.
 | 
|
Kahue's trial began yesterday before Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario after Kahue waived his right to a jury trial.
Kahue is also charged with second- and third-degree assault for punching a woman and tackling another into the canal shortly after attacking Wyatt.
Unlike in his initial court appearances, the white-haired Kahue was subdued and coherent, answering the court's queries directly.
Kahue's attorney is arguing his client was legally insane at the time of the assault.
Three doctors have been assigned to evaluate his mental health.
Kahue, who has a history of schizophrenia, has been held at the Hawaii State Hospital, where he has been receiving treatment.
Yesterday, clinical psychologist Dennis Donovan said Kahue suffers from delusional thinking and an underlying anger that emerges when he fails to take his medication.
"I think this has been a factor in the assaultive behaviors, which started to surface in the 1990s," Donovan said.
In 1990 he was accused of assaulting his mother. In 1995 he allegedly assaulted a neighbor, and the following year, a woman at a bus stop. In 1997 he allegedly assaulted four people -- including a pregnant woman -- at District Court. In 1999 he allegedly assaulted two people at Queen's Hospital, and in 2000, a female chaplain at Queen's.
"Yet if you interact with him and talk to most people, they will speak highly of him, and he's generally passive," Donovan said.
Psychologist Thomas Merrill, who diagnosed Kahue as a paranoid schizophrenic, said Kahue was unable to recall details of the attack.
Donovan said he believed Kahue was responsible for his acts in part because Kahue probably made an intentional decision to stop taking his medication.
But Del Rosario ruled that Donovan's opinion about whether Kahue intentionally went off his medication was an issue for a later hearing to determine whether Kahue could be released, and not for this proceeding.
Kahue, a Punahou School graduate, attended his high school reunion 10 days before the attacks. His records also show he spent one year at the University of Hawaii school of medicine but dropped out because of stress.
Kahue apparently began experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia at age 25 in 1979, according to probation reports.
According to Donovan's report to the court, Kahue's brother reported that Kahue had a severe regression the weekend before the attack, that he had not taken his medication and was talking about killing people.
But Kahue was discharged the next day, against his brother's wishes, because Kahue refused to give consent for treatment and asked to go home. While at the hospital, he allegedly made hostile and threatening remarks such as "kill haoles" and "kill females" to a doctor who recommended psychiatric evaluation.
Two days later, Kahue attacked Wyatt, who is Caucasian, and the two women.
Unlike Donovan, who concluded Kahue could not understand that what he was doing was right or wrong and could not control his behavior, Merrill concluded only that Kahue could not control his behavior.
If convicted as charged in Wyatt's death, Kahue faces life with the possibility of parole. If acquitted by reason of insanity, the court will decide if he is a danger to the community and, if so, commit him to the State Hospital until such time he can be released.
The trial will resume next Friday with one more doctor testifying.