Oahu Circuit Judge Paul Wong denied bail Tuesday for Maui anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig, who is charged with the attempted murder of his wife, Arielle Konig, on an Oahu hiking trail March 24.
Gerhardt Konig, 46, has been held without bail at the Oahu Community Correctional Center ever since his indictment by a grand jury. A District Court judge had initially set his bail at $5 million.
Wong found that state law allows for bail to be denied in cases of a serious crime and that the evidence shows Konig tried to conceal himself during the incident on the Pali Puka trail and evade law enforcement before he was arrested near Nuuanu Pali Drive. The judge also agreed that Konig posed a serious flight risk and is a danger to his wife.
His trial is set for June 9, but Konig’s attorney, Thomas Otake, said he would need to confer with the defendant on whether that was realistic considering his no-bail status.
Otake argued that in his 20-year legal career, he couldn’t remember a defendant being denied bail with no prior criminal record who
is as highly educated as Konig, a medical doctor, and a loving father. He told Wong that Konig’s 19-year-old son from a previous relationship had moved to Maui to be with his father.
Deputy Prosecutor Joel Garner countered that Konig had called his son and told him he tried to kill his wife because she was cheating on him, that he was going to turn off his phone so police could not find him and that the cellphone was found turned off with its SIM card removed.
Otake said the allegations against Konig were one-sided, coming from his wife, but “there are two sides to what happened on that cliff” and that “we have defenses to every single one of the ways” the deputy prosecutor suggested he tried to kill her.
The defense attorney said the two witnesses saw only 5% of what happened, and one didn’t see Konig hit his wife or allegedly use a small rock to beat her, and the syringes he allegedly used to try to stab her were never recovered.
Otake said doctors at the hospital noted there was no substantial risk of death to the victim, no concussion and no serious bodily injury, and that Konig’s conduct falls into the category of a Class C assault.
Otake also claimed Arielle Konig’s story is inconsistent, noting that in one court document she said Konig tried to throw her off a cliff, but another says that as she “was being pushed closer to the cliff’s edge, she threw herself to the ground in an attempt to stop Gerhardt from pushing her off the cliff’s edge.”
Honolulu Police Department Detective Tracy Spacek, in an affidavit in support of a search warrant, said that on March 27, Arielle Konig, 36, found a fanny pack — her husband’s medical bag that he takes to and from work — containing medical syringe needles and drug vials in the couple’s closet at their Kahului home. She said they were similar to the ones her husband tried to attack her with, although none were found at the alleged crime scene.
Maui police seized the items and turned them over to HPD.
Garner said Gerhardt Konig had easy and uncontrolled access to the drugs, which were away from the hospital in an unsecured location in his home. The drugs included propofol, a powerful intravenous anesthetic and sedative.
Otake said he found it suspicious that two days after Arielle Konig returned home, she found the fanny pack. He explained the defendant kept the bag at home “in case he needs to help people.”
“The fact that he’s a doctor should not be held against him,” he said.
Arielle Konig filed for divorce May 6 and seeks full custody of their two children, which generated an automatic restraining order. Otake said it also means Gerhardt Konig will not have access to his financial assets, and asked that bail be set at a reasonable amount.
Garner said the defendant is a serious risk to any person. He was indicted for attempting to murder Arielle Konig by trying to push her off a cliff and stab her with syringes, and striking her repeatedly in the head with a jagged, softball-size rock.
He insisted the defendant is a flight risk, noting he
hid from police after the
alleged 10 a.m. attack and wasn’t caught until he stepped out of the bushes after 6 p.m. When police officers identified themselves, he ran and then physically resisted arrest.
Garner said there is no way to keep Arielle Konig safe if the defendant is
released.
He pointed out that
Gerhardt Konig has never worked on Oahu, has no known ties to Oahu, and only has a brother in South Africa and parents in San Diego.
Otake proposed Konig remain on Oahu and that he could wear an ankle bracelet while his wife lives on Maui.
