The murder trial of a homeless, 39-year-old Waimea man accused of fatally stabbing a retired physician who took him and his family into his home is scheduled to go to the Fifth Circuit Court this month. Per diem Fifth District
The murder trial of a homeless, 39-year-old Waimea man accused of fatally stabbing a retired physician who took him and his family into his home is scheduled to go to the Fifth Circuit Court this month.
Per diem Fifth District Court Judge Gerald Matsunaga yesterday granted a request for a waiver of a preliminary hearing to determine probable cause from Raymond Earl Ard, 39, and sent the case to the circuit court.
Ard is accused of fatally stabbing Dr. Jon Kerns, 64, on the night of Sunday, Feb. 27. The retired doctor allowed Ard and his 15-year disabled stepson to stay on his property because her husband felt sorry for them, according to Claudia Kerns, the doctor’s wife.
The stabbing occurred at a rental home located on the property of the Kerns on Menehune Road in Waimea.
Matsunaga instructed Ard to appear in Fifth Circuit Court at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 15.
Ard was accompanied by Deputy Public Defender James Itamura when the judge granted the waiver.
Defendants will generally ask for a waiver when they feel a judge will find probable cause and send the case to the next higher court for disposition.
Ard has been charged with second-degree murder for the stabbing and with a second charge of second-degree attempted murder for wounding his 15-year-old stepson.
The stepson was treated for shoulder wounds at the Kaua‘i Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea and was released.
Claudia Kerns told police that Ard “went crazy” on the couple’s property on the evening of Feb. 27., and accused the doctor of being “Satan.”
Kerns alleged to police that Ard lured her husband into the house and killed him. According to police records, two knives were recovered from a blood-stained floor at Ard’s rental unit.
Claudia Kerns told police investigators that Ard walked toward her after the stabbing, but backed off as she began to scream louder and louder.
In court documents, Ard is reported to have ran out of the house and swam across the Makawewli River after the stabbing incident.
He then hid from police in nearby sugar cane fields, according to Kaua‘i police detectives’ statements.
Ard was found wearing no shoes and no shirt in cane fields in Makaweli Valley mauka of Kaumakani around 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 28.
After he was taken into custody, Ard – according to court documents – told KPD Detective Joseph Adric that he felt the Kerns had evil spirits in them and wanted to hurt his stepson. Ard’s wife apparently lived with Ard and the stepson in the rental home.
The woman, whose name was not released, was reportedly working on a cruise ship when her husband allegedly stabbed Dr. Kerns.
The prosecution was represented by Deputy Prosecutor Richard Minatoya at the preliminary hearing on Friday. Minatoya said County Prosecutor Craig De Costa will be the lead counsel when the murder trial gets under way in the Fifth Circuit Court. Ard has been confined at the Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center on $200,000 bail.
Lester Chang, staff writer, 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net.
