LIHU‘E — A motion to grant conditional release to a defendant acquitted of murder by reason of insanity was denied Thursday in 5th Circuit Court. The decision followed a June 22 hearing at which Raymond Earl Ard, 47, with the
LIHU‘E — A motion to grant conditional release to a defendant acquitted of murder by reason of insanity was denied Thursday in 5th Circuit Court.
The decision followed a June 22 hearing at which Raymond Earl Ard, 47, with the support of his treatment team at the Hawai‘i State Hospital, sought court approval for conditional release. Ard was acquitted of the 2005 multiple stabbing murder of retired physician Jon Kerns at his Waimea property, and the attempted murder of his 14-year-old step-son, Richard Iwate.
Listening in by phone at the hearing from California was Kerns’ sister, Helen Kerns Egy. The judge allowed her to comment at the conclusion of the hearing.
“As one of many victims of Ray Ard, I applaud the court for this decision and thank you very much, she said.
Ard, who appeared via video conference from Kane‘ohe treatment center, was represented by State Deputy Public Defender Christian Enright.
County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Murphy represented the state.
Judge Kathleen N. A. Watanabe of the 5th Circuit said she denied the motion in the interest of public safety, with concern for any alternative setting for Ard on O‘ahu, Kaua‘i or in Oregon.
Watanabe presided over Ard’s jury-waived trial, and denied two previous requests for unescorted off-grounds privileges. She said the decision did take into consideration his progress as a model patient who has succeeded without the aid of psychotropic medication.
Watanabe said the hospital has the responsibility to discharge patients who no longer benefit from services, and that attending psychiatrist Dr. Klebert Jones noted that Ard displays no underlying mental issues and believes his violent behavior was triggered by a drug and alcohol addiction.
Jones disapproved of the three-panel process of using medical records and a one-hour interview to make a prognosis that Ard suffers from a schizo-affective disorder.
The panel of doctors Dianne Gerard, Olaf Gitter and Gerald McKenna strongly disagreed with Jones. They said the lack of psychotic symptoms reported by the hospital are due to the credit of living in a controlled environment without life-stressers or the opportunity for substance abuse.
Watanabe said the doctors agree that Ard is not a danger to himself or others in his current setting. They would approve supervised release in a structured setting with drug testing. She said it was McKenna who said Ard does not accept his diagnosis and would be a “ticking time bomb” outside a clinical setting.
