Self-styled pro surfer found not guilty in vehicular attack

A state judge found a 31-year-old Oahu woman accused of running over another woman in a Waikiki apartment building parking garage not guilty of attempted murder Thursday afternoon by reason of insanity.

Jill Hansen doesn’t dispute that she struck a 73-year-old woman with her car May 14, 2014, and attempted to drive off with the other woman’s car. However, three court-appointed mental health experts testified this week that Hansen was suffering from the effects of a mental illness at the time of the attack and is therefore not legally responsible for her actions.

Following a two-day, nonjury trial, state Circuit Judge Rom Trader also found Hansen not guilty of unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and attempted car theft for trying to drive off in the woman’s car.

Trader told Hansen she is a danger to the community and ordered her into the custody of the state health director for placement in the Hawaii State Hospital for mental health treatment.

The victim, Elizabeth Conklin, who was in court to hear Trader hand down the verdicts, said she hopes Hansen will be kept away from the public for a long time.

“I’m glad it’s over. I want to put it behind me now. I’m feeling pretty well. I had several pretty awful months, but I’m OK now,” she said.

Conklin suffered a concussion and other injuries and was not able to remember the attack.

She said Hansen whispered “I’m sorry” to her before state sheriff’s deputies escorted Hansen out of the courtroom.

“I do appreciate it … and her mom was praying for me, she said. I appreciate that, too,” Conklin said.

The state took Hansen to trial after the three mental health experts appointed to examine Hansen, a self-described professional surfer, found her mentally fit to stand trial but that she was not legally responsible for her actions in the parking garage because she was suffering from a mental illness.

The three experts were the only trial witnesses, and all three testified that Hansen was suffering from schizoaffective disorder when she ran over Conklin and attempted to take her car.

One of the experts, psychologist Tom Cunningham, had made the same diagnosis in February 2014 when another judge appointed him to examine Hansen in connection with a misdemeanor TRO violation.

“She has had this very serious illness for a long time,” Cunningham said.

Rather than take Hansen to trial in the TRO violation case, the state allowed her to plead guilty to a contempt charge in March 2014. The judge granted her a one-year deferral of her guilty plea and ordered her to obtain mental health treatment on her own until she was clinically discharged.