A court-waived trial was held Tuesday for Desmond Kekahuna, accused of intentionally driving his red Honda Fit into a 37-year-old woman, who was pushing her 6-month-old baby in a stroller through the parking lot of the Mililani Walmart.

But the trial was not about whether Kekahuna struck the random stranger, then-37-year-old Kristelle Taliulu, dragging her 15 feet, breaking her legs and beating her with a tire iron.

It was about whether the 48-year-old bespectacled Kekahuna, who appeared in court wearing a blue paper jumpsuit and rubber slippers, was not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of second-degree attempted murder of Taliulu and second-degree assault for attacking a 40-year-old man who intervened.

Kekahuna’s court-appointed attorney, Aaron Wills, had the burden of proving to Circuit Judge Kevin Souza that Kekahuna’s cognitive and volitional capacities were substantially impaired.

However, the defense and the prosecution stipulated to a host of facts and exhibits about what occurred Feb. 1, 2023, in that parking lot, including that Kekahuna took a substantial step that could have caused Taiulu’s death using his car and a tire iron.

Kekahuna also verbally agreed to injuring Zachariah Jones, who had lacerations to his scalp and face and a bone fracture after being struck with the tire iron about 20 times in the head, arms and body.

(Taliulu’s baby, however, was spared from injury.)

Kekahuna verbally agreed to the stipulation, agreeing he committed all the acts for which he is charged.

The judge said after closing arguments he will take the matter under advisement and will inform the parties of his decision, but must review all the evidence and testimony that was submitted.

The evidence presented Wednesday included testimony by three mental health professionals who interviewed Kekahuna — one siding with the defense and the other two with the state.

Souza said, “Notwithstanding all three found him fit (for trial), instead, in a rather unusual move he’s transferred to HSH (Hawaii State Hospital).”

Defense expert witness on forensic psychiatry, Dr. Martin Blinder, who interviewed Kekahuna three times and prepared reports each time, testified by video teleconferencing.

In his first report, June 28, 2023, Blinder found him fit to proceed to trial and again on Feb. 26, 2024.

But in his Aug. 28, 2024, report regarding penal responsibility, Blinder said Kekahuna “manifested substantial cognitive incapacities, lacked the appreciation for wrongfulness of conduct and ability to reach the requisite threshold to negate criminal responsibility.”

Blinder said his initial diagnosis of schizophrenia changed as he got to know him better.

“Initially I couldn’t say whether he met the standard of NGI (not guilty by reason of insanity),” but the third time Blinder found Kekahuna had post-methamphetamine encephelopathy.

Blinder said that as a consequence of drug use, Kekahuna experienced cognitive loss, by several psychotic episodes, and “in the throes of the episodes he was not mentally competent.”

Blinder’s report said that as long as he stays on his meds, he will not be out of control. He will hear voices, but will be able to put them away.

Wills asked Blinder regarding a comment Kekahuna made to him: “Those people who I thought were so real at the time, but I know that they’re not.”

Under state law, a person is not responsible for conduct “if at the time of the conduct as a result of physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect the person lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of the person’s conduct or to conform the person’s conduct to the requirements of law.”

The judge asked how Blinder distinguished the post-­methamphetamine encephalopathy from schizophrenia.

Blinder said that schizophrenia is genetically based and manifests between ages 19 to 21.

But with encephalopathy, once these individuals develop methamphetamine change in their brains, even though they stop using, they have for the rest of their lives “a syndrome virtually indistinguishable from schizophrenia.”

Blinder said he did not think Kekahuna was a malingerer, although his two colleagues who testified believed he was.

The judge asked, “Your opinion is that Mr. Kekahuna, through the use of substances, particularly meth, did change the chemical composition to his brain to the point where he has experienced encephalopathy and that situation has resulted in Mr. Kekahuna continuing to suffer from that mental disease” and lacks the capacity to conform his actions?

Blinder said at the time of the incident, there was no evidence he was under the use of illicit substances.

He also said, “Malingerers don’t jump off a bridge … Even though he’s clean and sober for the rest of his life, we can’t give him new brain cells.”

He cited instances where Kekahuna jumped off a bridge onto H-1 freeway traffic. He also jumped from the second floor at the Oahu Community Correctional Center.

Deputy Prosecutor Kyle Mesa questioned Blinder for not imaging his brain to prove his diagnosis.

Mesa called Brenda Bauer-­Smith, an expert in forensic psychology, who also prepared three reports after interviewing Kekahuna.

She said that Kekahuna was thinking clearly and was psychiatrically stable.

Bauer-Smith said his stories were self-serving, unreliable and told several different stories about the day of the incident.

She found he had borderline personality disorder, and his actions reflected “aggression as opposed to fear or running away,” attributing his actions to drug use or anger or stress.

The only mental health issue he had was depression, Bauer-Smith said.

Bauer-Smith said that although Kekahuna spoke of paranoia, and auditory and visual hallucinations such as people coming after him that day, he never told that to police.

Wills said Kekahuna denied having any mental health symptoms the day of the incident, and was just going to buy cigarettes.

But Wills said Kekahuna was paranoid, thought people were following him.

Wills said Kekahuna was not even paying attention to the woman he ran over, and thought she was trying to hurt him.

Wills suggests Kekahuna was having a psychotic episode in the car and thought people were coming to kill him, so he took out the tire iron and defended himself.

Kekahuna was about to “whack the baby,” Wills said. But a woman at the scene got in his face and told him to stop. “You’re not going to hit that baby,” she said.

Afterward, he did not flee, but sat on the side and smoked a cigarette until police came.

Wills said Kekahuna had at least four attempts at suicide.

Psychologist Steven Taketa, who interviewed Kekahuna once, said it could be mental illness, but testified “he does not have mental illness that substantially impairs his cognitive and volitional capacity.”