Machete killer acquitted on appeal, committed to state hospital

More than seven years after a fatal machete attack at the Queen Kaʻahumanu Center, Kumulipo Sylva has been acquitted of manslaughter.

The acquittal by 2nd Circuit Judge Kirstin Hamman follows a Hawaiʻi Supreme Court decision in December 2023 that overturned his original manslaughter conviction. Earlier this month, Hamman ordered Sylva transferred from the Hālawa Correctional Center in ʻAiea, Oʻahu, to the Hawaiʻi State Hospital in Kāneʻohe.

“Kumu’s mental health issues are extremely severe, and correctional facilities are not equipped to provide the level of care he requires,” Sylva’s defense attorney, Zach Raidmae, said Thursday. “His transfer to the Hawaiʻi State Hospital is both appropriate and represents a just and compassionate resolution to the case, despite the horrific nature of the allegations.”

The recent developments in Sylva’s case stem from a Dec. 29, 2023, Hawaiʻi Supreme Court decision that threw out his October 2019 manslaughter conviction and 20-year prison sentence. Ruling on Sylva’s appeal, the high court decided there were errors in jury instructions and returned the case to 2nd Circuit Court on Maui for retrial.

Maui County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin said that, after the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court ruling, the state did not have an opportunity to retry Sylva on murder charges. (The Supreme Court noted “double jeopardy” issues in a retrial.) And, Martin said there was also a question about whether the defendant could be retried for manslaughter.

So, Martin said, the question became: “How do we protect the public for as long as possible from this individual?… The best answer was the state hospital,” given Sylva’s level of severe mental illness and the danger he poses to others.

Now, for an indeterminate amount of time, Sylva is in a locked hospital facility “designed for this very thing,” Martin said.

The hospital will both confine Sylva and treat him for his severe mental illness.

Sylva, then 23 years old, was originally charged with second-degree murder for the March 18, 2018, slaying of Eduardo Alejandro “Alex” Cerezo. When Sylva went to trial in October 2019, the case was never a whodunit.

According to witness accounts, Cerezo and Sylva had been passengers on an afternoon Maui Bus from Pukalani to Kahului. Upset that Sylva was staring at him, Cerezo “taunted Sylva the entire ride.”

At the shopping center, Sylva challenged Cerezo to a fight, but Cerezo walked away. Sylva followed him to the upstairs and into the men’s restroom near the men’s Macy’s store. There, Sylva told him “You’re not talking any s*** now?”

A witness said Cerezo told him he had no problem with him and that he had a family. Then, Sylva told him, “I was sent to end you,” and raised and swung the machete, killing Cerezo almost instantly. Sylva also reportedly said, “I’ve been sending demons to the moon.”

Sylva then returned the machete to his backpack and said, “believe it or not, it was a demon,” before walking out of the restroom. Police said Cerezo fell to the ground immediately and blood was observed everywhere.

Police searched Kahului and found Sylva at the Kahului Community Center Park. The weapon was recovered in a dirt-and-brush area near the park tennis courts.

Cerezo’s family spoke out, saying the case should focus not on the gruesome circumstances of the killing, but on how such violence could be prevented in the future.

When the case came before jurors in October 2019, the question before them was whether Sylva was criminally responsible for murder; or whether he was suffering a delusion from his Schizoaffective Disorder, a relatively rare mental condition, at the time of the killing. Then 2nd Circuit Judge Richard Bissen presided over the case.

On Oct. 23, 2019, a jury convicted Sylva of a lesser charge of manslaughter. In January 2020, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. During sentencing, then Judge Bissen said Sylva was not a candidate for probation “in any stretch,” although he could get mental health treatment in prison.

“I don’t think any of us should confuse mental illness with a propensity to commit murder, because they do not equal each other,” Bissen said during sentencing.

On appeal, Sylva’s defense attorneys objected to Bissen’s decision to strike part of testimony from one of three psychiatrists — Dr. Martin Blinder — who said Sylva was not “a bad man who goes around hurting people.” After a sidebar, the judge instructed the jury to disregard Blinder’s “last response.” Defense counsel had asked Blinder to explain the basis for his opinion that Sylva lacked capacity.

The judge also sustained the prosecutor’s objection to Blinder’s later testimony that — to a reasonable degree of medical probability, but for Sylva’s mental illness, he would not have killed Cerezo.

Sylva was convicted of manslaughter based on extreme mental or emotional disturbance.

In a Dec. 29, 2023, ruling the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court found in favor of Sylva, vacating his manslaughter conviction and sentence and finding that Bissen erred in striking parts of Blinder’s testimony. The court reasoned that:

• A reasonable juror could have believed the circuit court instructed them to disregard Dr. Blinder’s entire answer explaining his opinion that Sylva lacked capacity.
• Hawaiʻi law provides that medical examiners appointed pursuant to that chapter “shall be permitted to make any explanation reasonably serving to clarify” their opinion.
• The circuit court’s error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because Sylva’s insanity defense turned largely on the medical examiners’ testimonies.

The high court returned the case for a new trial to 2nd Circuit Court for “further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

The case eventually found its way before Judge Hamman. She ordered mental health examinations of Sylva in early April 2024.

Reports were received from Dr. Blinder on Aug. 22, 2024, and from Dr. Allison Gunderson on Nov. 19, 2024. Both opined that Sylva was fit to proceed to trial, but that he was “not penally responsible at the time of the alleged conduct due to mental disease or defect, which caused him to lack the appreciation of the wrongfulness of his conduct and the ability to conform to the requirements of law.” (“Penally responsible” means a person should not be held criminally liable or punished for actions due to a mental disease, disorder or defect at the time of an incident.)

On April 30, Hamman acquitted Sylva of manslaughter and ordered him committed to the custody of the director of the state Department of Health for placement in “an appropriate institution for custody, care and treatment.” She also issued an order for immediate transportation to the state hospital.

According to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Sylva was released from prison custody on May 2.

In August 2020, Sylva was named as a suspect in a fatal inmate-on-inmate assault at the Hālawa Correctional Center. The victim, a 70-year-old inmate, was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital after the assault on the morning of Aug. 19, 2020. He was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at the hospital.

When asked about the report of that prison killing, Martin said, “that’s not our case.”

That case is pending with the state Department of the Attorney General, he said.

Maui County prosecutors will continue to monitor Sylva’s case and make appearances on behalf of the state at hearings to “ensure he’s detained there so the public remains safe,” Martin said.