Civil Beat’s Nick Grube delivered an amazing scoop on Friday when he reported that the attorney representing former Honolulu prosecutor Katherine Kealoha said her client “might be suffering from a mental disease or defect affecting her mental competency” to stand trial.
Kealoha and her husband, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, are facing upcoming trials on a variety of federal charges, from conspiracy and obstruction of justice to bank fraud.
The concerns about Kealoha’s condition led attorney Cynthia Kagiwada to file a confidential motion on September 12, 2018, asking the court to order a competency review and hearing to evaluate Kealoha’s mental condition, Grube reported, citing a document which was unsealed last week.
In that document, one of several made public last week–“Findings and Recommendation that Defendant Katherine P. Kealoha is mentally competent to stand trial”–Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi found that “a preponderance of the evidence” showed the former prosecutor is competent to stand trial.
According to the document, Kealoha was evaluated by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Sheila Wendler on November 16, 2018, and a court hearing was held on December 13. Both the motion and the proceedings were sealed and unknown to the public and the media until now.
Puglisi noted:
For her examination, Dr. Wendler reviewed Defendant Kealoha’s medical and legal records, conducted a clinical interview, and administered a cognitive screening test. [Several sentences redacted]
Dr. Wendler determined that Defendant Kealoha is able to understand the nature of the charges against her, assist in her own defense, and participate in proper courtroom behavior. She concluded that Defendant Kealoha is competent to stand trial. Dr. Wendler’s report and conclusions are not contested by either party.
Although Grube’s Civil Beat account was published on Friday, only AP’s Jennifer Sinco Kelleher followed up on the story. Other Honolulu media have been remained remarkably silent on the startling disclosure.
You can read Puglisi’s “Findings and Recommendation” here.
Other documents are available from the Civil Beat Center Law Center for the Public Interest, which successfully challenged the continued secrecy of this series of related documents.
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The alleged mental incompetency has a medical term.
It’s “stupid”.
If anyone thought they could get away with a scheme like this, they must be stupid. And there’s no cure for that.
Life in prison will do that to you. Perhaps she just needs a pain patch!
Oh, wait did she surrender her “Crazy” status attorney law licsense. Her poor counselor must be finding no other defenseable argument if she filed such an unprecedented motion. Ex-Chief Kealoha likely to be a prisoner of love! Real suicide risk with Blaisdel arena trial location. How much will pay per view cost?
If she seems to be doing anything to avoid going on trial, it’s because she knows that she is going to be found guilty. On the mailbox thing alone, there are at least 8 charges against her that each carry 20 years. So she could be facing centuries in prison considering all charges. And federal courts have infinite resources, not just for pursuing prosecution, but for keeping people in prison for long stretches, and so federal judges hand out sentences like candy. She knows this because she is a prosecuting attorney, but police officers don’t necessarily know this. If all her various ploys to avoid trial fail, she may try to plea by turning against the other defendants, even her husband. For their own good, they need to wake up and smell the coffee and get right with Jesus.