LIHU‘E — Raymond Earl Ard’s lawyer said yesterday that he plans to seek a psychiatric evaluation on whether Ard was mentally responsible for the death of Dr. Jon Kerns and the stabbing of Ard’s 15-year-old, mentally challenged stepson. After Ard
LIHU‘E — Raymond Earl Ard’s lawyer said yesterday that he plans to seek a psychiatric evaluation on whether Ard was mentally responsible for the death of Dr. Jon Kerns and the stabbing of Ard’s 15-year-old, mentally challenged stepson.
After Ard pleaded not guilty yesterday to three murder and attemptedmurder charges, Public Defender James Itamura told Judge George Masuoka that he would be filing a motion for a three-panel mental examination.
The panel, which is usually comprised of two psychiatrists and a psychologist, would determine if Ard was mentally capable of participating in his own defense and if, at the time of the incident, Ard knew right from wrong and could control himself at the time of the Feb. 27 stabbings in Waimea Valley that resulted in the death of Dr. Jon Kerns and the wounding of Ard’s stepson.
The examination, Itamura said, would be held before the June 13 trial date, most likely within 30 to 60 days.
According to Kaua‘i Police Department detectives quoted in court documents obtained by The Garden Island, Ard told investigators he killed the doctor who rented his family a home because he believed Kerns, 64, was “Satan in the flesh,” and that Jon Kerns and wife Claudia Kerns were “out to kill him.”
Ard’s wife, Ellyson Ard-Manus, also told KPD detectives in the documents that he has bipolar disorder, and believed that Kerns and his wife were possessed.
She also told police that “Ray has never hurt anyone before,” according to court documents.
But a woman who e-mailed The Garden Island reporting to be Ard’s daughter, Heidi Janine Ard, said her father was a violent man who beat her and used his religious beliefs to cover his indiscretions.
Heidi Janine Ard, who said in an e-mail she’s in China teaching English, said she did not hear about the incident until this past weekend.
“I always knew he was capable of killing, and I was horrified when I learned that it had happened to someone who seems to deserve it the least,” the woman wrote. “I feel so much pain for Mr. Kerns’ family.”
The woman said she was punched in the face by Ray Ard, and “I have felt his fists of rage and heard all the excuses.
“He may be a little crazy, but he knows right from wrong, and hides behind the Bible whenever he wants to get away with something,” she said. “He is a horrible man, and I would love to help the Kaua‘i police in any way I can.”
She said she has been in e-mail contact with KPD investigators.
As the case moved to Circuit Court this week after Ard waived a preliminary hearing in District Court, prosecutors added a new charge against Ard: first degree-murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The charge was added, Prosecuting Attorney Craig De Costa said, because of the nature of the crime and the fact there were multiple victims.
In the end, a jury will likely decide Ard’s fate, as the panel of mental-health experts does not make the final decision on Ard’s mental health.
The first question, whether Ard is found fit to proceed for trial, is determined by a judge, said De Costa.
If the defendant is found mentally incapable of participating in his defense, he would be hospitalized until another evaluation deemed he was fit to stand trial.
The second question, whether Ard was stable enough to know right from wrong or control himself, is decided by a jury at trial, De Costa continued. Dissenting opinions by outside mental-health experts could also be used, he added.
Ard and his wife and stepson were renting a small home next to the Kerns on Menehune Road in Waimea Valley when the death occurred.
According to Claudia Kerns, the doctor’s wife, in a statement given to KPD detectives, Kerns was friendly to Ard until the end. Hours before the incident, Jon gave Ard’s developmentally disabled son a bath, and the Kerns and Ard ate dinner together.
Ard’s wife was working on a cruise ship, and was onboard when the incident occurred, detectives said.
Claudia Kerns’ statement said that her husband went over to look for Ard’s truck keys, and that after her husband started screaming for help, she saw Ray Ard stabbing him.
Ard, covered in blood, began walking toward her, she told detectives in the court documents.
But, as she screamed louder and began backing away, her statement said, Ard ran away down Menehune Road.
Ard was arrested in the fields mauka of Makaweli the following morning.
Police statements also revealed that they recovered two knives covered in blood from the Ard rental home’s kitchen floor.
Both Kerns and Ard’s stepson were brought to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea, for knife wounds. Kerns was pronounced dead, while Ard’s stepson was treated for wounds to the shoulder and released the following day.
Ard is being held at Kauai Community Correctional Facility in lieu of $200,000 bail.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
