Accused killer William Michael Bell refused Thursday for the fourth time to come out of his cell at the Oahu Community Correctional Center to participate in a scheduled arraignment by videoconferencing with a Circuit Court judge.
The 51-year-old, charged with second-degree murder in the Dec. 6 slaying of a 77-year-old security guard, Mike Chu of Kailua, had done so three previous times.
Judge Christine Kuriyama set a fifth arraignment and plea for Tuesday.
At the last arraignment on Dec. 22, the state requested an order to remove Bell from his cell.
A deputy public defender had gone to OCCC to speak to Bell but relayed he did not want public-defender representation, the court minutes say.
The state then requested that the judge appoint legal counsel, which the court ordered and appointed private attorney Nelson Goo on Tuesday.
However, an incident report filed Thursday by the Department of Corrections said the inmate “refused attorney visit.”
Chu died of multiple stab wounds at the Windward City Shopping Center near the 24 Hour Fitness at the Windward City Shopping Center.
Police said in court documents that a witness in the parking lot heard an argument at about 5:50 a.m. Dec. 6 and saw a man walk away from Chu’s car.
Chu was scheduled to begin his shift as a security guard at 6 a.m.
A witness recognized the suspect as a panhandler who frequents the shopping center.
Police received a tip of a possible sighting of the suspect, and found Bell in Wahiawa with multiple knives in his front pants pocket and an expandable baton in a holster on his waist.
Chu was a founding member of the Kailua Community Basketball League and worked at St. Francis School and other Catholic schools.
