HONOLULU (Court TV) — An anesthesiologist convicted of trying to kill his wife on a hike in Hawaii appeared in court on Friday as his attorneys pushed for him to get a new trial.
Gerhardt Konig appears in court on Aug. 14, 2026. (Court TV)
A jury found Gerhardt Konig, 47, guilty of attempted manslaughter based on extreme mental or emotional disturbance; the defendant had initially faced charges of second-degree attempted murder, but the jury acquitted him on that charge.
Immediately after his trial, jurors gave interviews to the media about their experience, in which they said “that they did not believe Dr. Konig intended to kill his wife,” the defense said in its motion for the conviction to be overturned. “The verdict just cannot stand,” Konig’s attorney, Thomas Otake, said at Friday’s hearing. “There must have been a unanimous agreement to guilty on attempted murder before they could even consider extreme and emotional distress manslaughter. We all know that.”
Otake said that there was no way to know whether the jury intentionally disregarded Judge Paul Wong’s instructions on the law or whether they were confused. “Mistakes happen. Misunderstandings happen. And that’s not a failure of the system. What’s a failure of the system is when we learn about that, if we don’t take steps to correct it.”
Irwin Keliipuleole, an investigator with the prosecutor’s office, testified about his attempts to talk to the jury foreperson who signed an affidavit for the defense saying, “The jury did not unanimously believe that Dr. Konig had an intent to kill his wife.”
Keliipuleole testified that he had difficulty reaching the foreperson, and when he finally made contact with her, she said she didn’t want to talk to anybody from the prosecutor’s office. She further relayed that she had been ordered by the judge to speak to the media, never wanted to be the foreperson and was upset that people had been contacting her and her family on social media.
At Konig’s trial, his now-ex-wife testified that the defendant attacked her while they were on a trip to Maui to celebrate their birthday. At the time, she said, their marriage was troubled after she had what she termed an “emotional affair” with a married co-worker who lived in Washington state. The victim described Konig’s attack, saying he tried to push her off a cliff before beating her head several times with a large rock.
Konig testified in his own defense, claiming the victim attacked him and tried to push him off the cliff after an argument about her co-worker. “I just remember kind of standing at the edge there and looking over the edge and just kind of still in thought about everything that had just happened and what’s going on. And then I felt a shove, and I was almost pushed over the edge,” he told the jury.
Prosecutor Joel Garner argued on Friday that there was no reason to further investigate the jury’s thinking because it delivered a clear verdict and any further evaluation of the verdict would be a violation of state law.
Because of strict laws protecting the sanctity of juror deliberations, neither the defense nor the prosecution called any of the jurors to testify at Friday’s hearing, but Wong said the law made it clear that it would be necessary. “I think I’m handcuffed as to what this particular case requires me to do,” he said. “I understand the objection of both of the parties, but I think that is what is required of the court, unfortunately. And the court will make that attempt to get these jurors back.”
Wong scheduled a further hearing on the issue for Sept. 11.
Konig remains in custody without bail.
