A Hawaii physician convicted of attacking his wife on a cliffside and trying to kill her is now seeking another chance to challenge the verdict.
Gerhardt Konig could be granted a new trial after his defense attorney raised concerns about possible juror misconduct and whether the panel’s decision was truly unanimous. Konig was convicted in April of attempted manslaughter based on extreme mental or emotional disturbance.
“I’m not faulting the jurors—they’re human, they’re trying their best,” Konig’s attorney, Thomas Otake, said during an Aug. 14 hearing that led Judge Paul Wong to summon jurors back to court. “But mistakes happen.”
In a May motion obtained by CNN, Otake cited a social media post from an anonymous user who claimed to have exchanged texts with a juror during deliberations. He also pointed to remarks two jurors made to reporters after the verdict was announced.
“Jury irregularities call into serious question the integrity of this verdict,” Otake wrote in the filing.
Under Hawaii law, an “extreme mental or emotional disturbance” finding can reduce murder or attempted murder to manslaughter or attempted manslaughter. Otake argued that the jurors may not have properly followed the court’s instructions.
“There must have been a unanimous agreement to guilty on attempted murder,” Otake said at the Aug. 14 hearing, “before they could even consider extreme and emotional distress manslaughter. We all know that.”
The questions intensified after jurors’ public comments fueled speculation about whether that required step had actually taken place.
“We could see there was definitely evidence of a track record of the ability for emotional distress to have occurred,” jury foreperson Makalapua Atkins told reporters after the verdict, according to Hawaii News Now. “The intent to kill is improbable to us, based on the evidence presented.”
Atkins later expanded in a sworn statement, saying, according to CNN, “The jury did not unanimously believe that Dr. Konig had an intent to kill his wife.”
Another juror, who asked to be identified as “Juror 3,” told KHON2, “I think he was emotionally unstable. I don’t know if he was trying to kill his wife personally. I do know that it was the capacity to kill his wife personally. That’s how I felt about it.”
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joel Garner opposed the motion for the new trial.
“If you want to enter evidence, you need to lay a proper foundation,” he said at the Aug. 14 hearing. “The evidence needs to be authenticated.”
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Garner argued that courts cannot examine how juries reached a verdict.
“Any juror would be pressured knowing that their verdict could be attacked,” he said, according to Hawaii News Now. “That their thought process in reaching their verdict is not secret.”
Judge Wong said he needs more information before deciding whether to order a new trial.
“The court must ascertain the extent of the influence, so the burden is on me,” he said. “I have to do what I really don’t want to do and bring in these jurors and ask whether or not they were tainted by outside influence.”
Gerhardt, an anesthesiologist in Maui, and his wife Arielle Konig, went hiking on O’ahu’s Pali Puka Trail for her birthday in March 2025.
Arielle testified that during the hike, Gerhardt asked her to pose for a photo at the edge of the cliff, then attacked her with a rock before trying to stab her with a syringe and push her off.
“‘Nobody’s going to hear you out here,’” Arielle recalled him saying on the stand, according to NBC News. “‘Nobody’s coming to save you.'”
Other hikers called 911 after witnessing the struggle and helped Arielle to safety.
Prosecutors argued that Gerhardt’s motive was an alleged obsession with his wife’s emotional affair with a coworker. Arielle testifiied that that she had an “emotional affair,” according to CourtTV, that played out in text messages.
Gerhardt, who pleaded not guilty, claimed he acted in self-defense after the two argued about the affair and she struck him with the rock and tried to push him off the cliff, the outlet reported.
“He had a reflex,” Otake said in court, according to the outlet. “He reacted, and then he felt horrible about it.”
Gerhardt is facing up to 20 years in prison.
