A Hawaii anesthesiologist who was accused of trying to murder his wife on a cliffside hike last year has been convicted of a lesser charge of attempted manslaughter.
A Honolulu jury returned the verdict against Gerhardt Konig, 47, today after a day of deliberations. The crime he was convicted of, attempted manslaughter based on extreme mental or emotional disturbance, carried a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Thomas Otake, his attorney, said he planned to appeal.
Konig had a plan and backup plans for murdering his wife, Arielle Konig, during a weekend trip to Honolulu for her birthday in March 2025, deputy prosecutor Joel Garner told jurors in a closing statement. Konig tried to push her off a cliff, and when that didn’t work, he tried to stab her with a syringe filled with an unknown substance.
And when that didn’t work, he grabbed the rock, Garner said.
“Every backup plan ends in Arielle’s death,” Garner said, displaying the rock and photos of her injuries.
The doctor’s lawyer told jurors there were no such plans, and he repeatedly sought to cast doubt on Arielle Konig’s account. Gerhardt Konig has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, and he insists he was defending himself from his wife, who he says attacked him with the rock first.
If Gerhardt Konig had wanted to kill his wife and had access to a syringe in a remote area, attorney Otake suggested, wouldn’t he have drugged her and then thrown her from the cliff, rather than having started a scuffle before attempting to fill the syringe as he was wrestling with her?
“You would use the syringe first,” Otake said. “It makes no sense.”
The trial started last month, nearly a year after Gerhadt and Arielle Konig went on a hike on the Pali Puka trail in Honolulu that ended with her bloodied and screaming that he had tried to kill her.
Their two young sons stayed home on Maui while the Konigs were on the trip. Near a lookout offering sweeping views, Gerhardt Konig – upset about his wife’s relationship with a co-worker – attacked her, Garner said. It was only because two other hikers interrupted the assault that he stopped, Garner said.
The trial, with testimony livestreamed by Court TV, has aired the couple’s marital problems leading up to the hike, along with their versions of what happened on the trail.
Gerhardt Konig testified that his wife was having an affair, which he confirmed by unlocking her phone while she slept. The relationship, which Arielle Konig characterised as an “emotional affair” involving flirty messages with a co-worker, came up during the hike.
Arielle Konig testified that her husband grabbed her and moved her toward the cliff’s edge, but she threw herself on the ground in an attempt to hold on. He straddled her and had a syringe in his hand, she said, but she batted it away. She bit his forearm and squeezed his testicles in an attempt to get him off her, she said.
Her husband denied pushing her toward the edge and testified that she hit him with a rock on the side of his face. He wrestled the rock away and hit her with it twice in self-defence, he said.
Gerhardt Konig also denied having any syringes on the mountain or trying to stab his wife. His defence attorney said no syringe was found at the scene because he never had one.
Otake said Gerhardt Konig was not someone who would try to commit murder, but someone who was struggling with infidelity and trying to do his best. Otake quoted from a heart-shaped birthday card Gerhardt Konig had written to his wife, calling her “the heart of our family” and saying, “the kids and I hit the jackpot with you".
Gerhardt Konig testified that, as he watched his wife crawl away, he believed his marriage and career were over, and he decided to jump to his death. But first, he called his adult son from a previous marriage. The son told authorities that his father said he “tried to kill your stepmom” – a confession Gerhardt Konig denied having made.
Konig testified that he called his son to say goodbye.
During that call, the defendant made no reference to having struck his wife in self-defence, Garner said.
He spent about eight hours hiding on the mountain before deciding to come down, and even then, he tried to flee when confronted by police, Garner said.
His wife has since filed for divorce.
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