A man acquitted of 2005 murder charges has asked a Kauai judge to allow him to have unescorted off-ground privileges from a Hawaii hospital. Hawaii State Hospital Special Deputy Attorney General April Luria appeared by way of video conference with
A man acquitted of 2005 murder charges has asked a Kauai judge to allow him to have unescorted off-ground privileges from a Hawaii hospital.
Hawaii State Hospital Special Deputy Attorney General April Luria appeared by way of video conference with Raymond Ard after filing a motion on his behalf.
He was charged with two counts of attempted murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree for a 2005 attack on Kauai when he allegedly stabbed his stepson and his landlord, who later died after he was found stabbed 25 times.
After a bench trial in 2006, Ard was found guilty of first-degree attempted murder, but not guilty of murder in the second degree and not guilty of the other first degree attempted murder charge. The court then acquitted Ard by reason of insanity.
On Tuesday, Luria asked the court to allow Ard unescorted off-ground privileges so that he could visit the Hina Mauka facility on Oahu to attend narcotics and alcoholics anonymous meetings. The hospital staff was not able to escort him, as there was no current escort available, she said.
“He has to sign in and sign out,” Luria told the court. “There would be constant checks to make sure that he is complying with the plan. This would just be the first step in allowing him additional responsibility to prove to everyone that he can take these steps on his own.”
Luria said Ard’s walk would be just 10-15 minutes from the Kaneohe hospital and next to a guard shack.
Although the state did not file a motion in opposition, it did oppose Ard’s request on the record by stating “he murdered Jon Kerns and he tried to murder Richard Iwatate.”
Deputy Public defender Stephanie Sato said Ard had been at the hospital for just shy of 10 years and during those years he had been clean and sober. She added that the hospital was in close proximity to the Hina Mauka facility.
Judge Kathleen Watanabe then asked the hospital staff if they had made contact with the murder victim’s sister, Helen Egy. She was not present Tuesday.
The court asked that the hospital and the prosecutor’s office notify the victim’s family before the hearing date, which has now been set for March 29.
Ard has tried before to have unescorted off-ground privileges from the Hawaii State Hospital, once in 2009 and again in 2008.
In 2011, he filed a motion for conditional release, which was denied by the court after he was examined by a three board panel of doctors. His appeal was also denied.
Dr. Gerald McKenna, who examined Ard before his trial to determine if he was fit to proceed and again when Ard sought conditional release from the Hawaii State Hospital, said in a report that Ard had a “time bomb in him that is going to go off at some point in the future.”
