An inmate accused of beating his Oahu Community Correctional Center cellmate to death said Tuesday in court he "also sexually assaulted an inmate."
Joseph Tui Jr. was in Honolulu District Court, where he is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of his 76-year-old cellmate, identified in court documents as Cyril Chung, also known as Cyrl Chung.
Tui’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Dawn Nekoba, had requested Tuesday that Tui not be required to appear, but Judge Leslie Hayashi rejected Nekoba’s request.
Tui then tried to address Hayashi several times, at one point asking what the charges were against him.
He seemed to want to confess to a sexual attack but was cut off.
"I just want to say I also sexually assaulted an inmate," Tui said.
"I’m not homosexual," said Tui, dressed in light blue prison coveralls with his right hand bandaged. "I’m not gay. I want to tell the truth."
If convicted of the murder charge, Tui faces the possibility of life without parole.
However, Myles Breiner, who initially represented Tui in a civil lawsuit four years ago, said prison officials knew Tui has a "history of severe mental illness" and "paranoia disillusion" and should have never been housed with another inmate without being medicated.
Four years ago Tui was assaulted by three adult corrections officers at Halawa Correctional Facility. The attack, caught on surveillance tape, led to the dismissal of the three guards.
Breiner said Tui "should be at the state mental hospital since he has problems functioning without medication and treatment."
Breiner said Tui was released from Halawa last year following an assault arrest, creating a problem for his family since "he was left to his own devices."
Tui was again arrested this year on a new assault charge after interrupting "Hawaii Five-0" filming at Ala Moana Center.
Tui was being held at OCCC on a third-degree assault charge.
Chung had been waiting for two years to go to trial for second-degree robbery.
The two were housed in a holding unit for inmates who misbehave. They were sharing a cell because the facility is overcrowded, said Ted Sakai, director of public safety. "Ideally, there would be one per cell," Sakai said after the incident, "but we simply do not have enough cell space at this facility for that."
Tui was moved to the holding unit Thursday for threatening a staff member. Chung was in the unit for cigarette possession.
Tui has a long record of convictions starting in 2000 for theft, burglary, escape, misdemeanor sex assault and harassment.
Given Tui’s history, Breiner said he believes prison officials should have not allowed Tui to be housed with another inmate.
Placing Tui with a cellmate placed both of them at risk, Breiner added.
The Department of Public Safety is investigating the cause of the fight, which happened during a shift change.
Sakai also declined to comment on Breiner’s charges, adding the matter was under investigation.
It took just 10 minutes for Tui to be out of sight of Oahu Community Correctional Center guards when he allegedly beat Chung to death.
In a police affidavit filed in District Court on Tuesday, Tui, who is 214 pounds and 6 feet tall, confessed to a paramedic that he punched and kicked 5-foot-4-inch, 108-pound Chung on Saturday afternoon.
Inmates near the cell where Chung and Tui were being held called for adult corrections officers, saying that "a man was down," the court document says.
Chung was found by a guard "lying naked on the ground, with red liquid, resembling that of blood coming out the back of Chung’s head and he was unresponsive."
Tui was sitting on the top bunk "with what appeared to be blood on his left foot."
Police said there was blood on Tui’s face, hands, feet and left leg area of his uniform. Tui was treated by a paramedic for pain to his right wrist and left leg.
Chung was taken from OCCC’s holding unit to the Queen’s Medical Center following the 2 p.m. beating. He died at Queen’s at 4:12 p.m.
The medical examiner’s office said Chung died of head injuries caused by "blunt force trauma." The death was ruled a homicide.
Tui will be arraigned in District Court on the first-degree murder charge Thursday afternoon.
Hayashi continued Tui’s bail at $250,000.
