A fellow patient provided the fake IDs that Hawaii State Hospital escapee Randall Saito used to flee to California in November 2017, Saito’s lawyer said.
Attorney Michael Green said he learned from the prosecutor in the case that the fellow patient confessed to providing the counterfeit driver’s licenses to Saito at the Koolau Clubhouse, a facility for the mentally ill.
Saito was committed to the State Hospital in 1981 after he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the murder of a 29-year-old woman in 1979. He had been diagnosed with sexual sadism and necrophilia.
His trial is set for June 3 on charges of second-degree escape and four counts of first-degree identity theft, a Class A felony.
On Nov. 12, 2017, Saito walked off the hospital grounds, caught a cab and flew to Maui on a chartered plane, then caught a commercial flight to San Jose, Calif.
Sheriff’s deputies caught him on Nov. 15, 2017, in Stockton, Calif. He had $6,000, two counterfeit driver’s licenses and a cellphone.
Deputy Attorney General Kory Young, who is prosecuting the case, said Tuesday that while Green is free to comment, he cannot comment on pending trial cases and could not confirm what Green said.
Several policies and procedures at the State Hospital have changed since Saito’s escape, including making the nearby Koolau Clubhouse off-limits to patients.
Individuals from community-based services still go to the clubhouse, a nationally recognized model, where those with mental illness receive training and socialization to help develop skills to live independently within the community, said DOH spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
In December, following an administrative investigation, six State Hospital workers suspected of helping Saito were cleared of aiding and abetting his escape, then-state Attorney General Russell Suzuki said.
