A Maui anesthesiologist convicted of trying to kill his wife on an Oahu hiking trail was denied a new trial on Friday after a judge rejected his claims that jurors didn’t follow instructions and talked to people outside of court about the verdict,
according to state court
records.
Gerhardt Konig was found guilty on April 8 of attempted manslaughter of his wife, Arielle Konig, based on extreme mental or emotional distress. Konig was originally charged with
second-degree attempted murder in connection with the March 2025 attack. He plans to appeal the ruling by Judge Paul B.K. Wong.
The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney will ask a judge to send Konig to prison for 20 years.
Konig will ask for probation at sentencing on Jan. 8 before appealing Wong’s ruling. The jurors were questioned by Wong on Sept. 11 and 18 and asked if they talked to anyone about the case outside of the jury room. All 12 jurors told Wong they did not talk to anyone outside of court about the case.
Konig admitted to hitting his wife, Arielle Konig, in the head with a rock, but he said it was self-defense. Prosecutors said Konig planned to kill his wife. After hitting her, he tried to inject her with a syringe of an unknown substance, then tried to push her off the Pali Puka Trail in Nuuanu.
Konig filed a motion for a new trial based on allegations of jury misconduct and jurors not following jury instructions in reaching their verdict. His attorney argued that a comment made by someone watching the live feed of the trial on the Law &Crime YouTube channel proved the jury was leaking information. The commenter claimed that they were texting with a juror during deliberations who said they were going to convict Konig of attempted manslaughter.
Konig’s attorney, Thomas Otake, said Aug. 14 that it was too much of a coincidence that an unknown viewer of the livestream of the trial correctly predicted the verdict before the outcome was publicly released, concluding the viewer’s claim of being in contact with a juror during deliberations was true.
Konig also alleged the jury did not believe Konig intended to kill his wife, a requirement for the murder conviction and for the lesser charge that included extreme mental or emotional distress manslaughter. The foreperson of the jury, in an affidavit, said the jury did not unanimously believe
Konig meant to murder his wife.
“We were disappointed
by the Court’s ruling as it seemed straight forward that a verdict in a criminal case that was not unanimous should be set aside,” Otake told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Two jurors expressed post-verdict that they did not believe Dr. Konig intended to kill his wife. This was not surprising as the evidence supported that this was an unplanned mutual scuffle that quickly got out of hand.
“The State’s illogical theory that this was some sort of premeditated murderous attack by a Doctor on a busy hiking trail in broad daylight was not supported by the evidence and was rejected by the jury. Our immediate focus now turns to sentencing, where we will be asking the Court to impose probation. Thereafter, we will pursue an immediate appeal. We remain confident that,
ultimately, our client will be afforded a new trial.”
The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney told the Star-Advertiser in a statement that it agrees with Wong’s ruling.
“We will certainly be asking for 20 years in prison at the time of sentencing,” read the statement.