Maui doctor loses bid for new attempted murder trial

A Honolulu judge denied Maui anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig's bid for a new trial after all twelve jurors returned to court and denied any outside communication during deliberations about his April conviction for attempted manslaughter. Konig had been charged with attempted second-degree murder over a March 2025 attack on his wife on Oahu's Pali Puka Trail; he admitted striking her with a rock but claimed self-defense.

His attorney pointed to an anonymous YouTube livestream comment claiming to be texting with a juror during deliberations, and to a foreperson's affidavit suggesting the verdict was not unanimous on intent to kill. Judge Paul Wong rejected both, ruling the online comment was speculation from an outside viewer, not a juror, and that Hawaii evidence law barred probing jurors' internal thinking.

Wong also found the law does not require unanimity on intent to kill for an attempted-manslaughter verdict based on emotional disturbance. Konig remains jailed without bail; prosecutors are seeking the maximum 20-year sentence, and the defense says it will appeal, with sentencing set for January 2027.

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