Jurors in Oahu Circuit Court are being asked to decide whether extreme mental or emotional distress can explain a brutal double killing in an Ewa Beach apartment in March 2020. Kendall Rashad Ramsey is on trial, accused of killing his 23-year-old girlfriend, Kayla Holder, and their six-month-old son, Kainoa, in a case that is expected to turn heavily on psychiatric testimony and dueling narratives about motive and intent.
Deputy Public Defender Hayley Cheng told jurors Tuesday that the defense will rely on the legal doctrine of extreme mental or emotional disturbance and plans to call a psychologist to walk them through Ramsey’s state of mind, as reported by the Star-Advertiser. Cheng sketched the theory that Ramsey’s actions, while horrific, grew out of overpowering emotional turmoil rather than preplanned murder. The defense did not offer further specifics about what the expert is expected to say.
The killings took place inside an apartment at the Sun Rise complex in Ewa Beach in March 2020, and Ramsey was arrested soon afterward. He was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, and an attempted-murder count tied to a high-speed crash, according to earlier reporting by Hawaii News Now. The case has wound through a series of starts and stops, including a later presentation to a grand jury that led to an indictment, before landing back in circuit court for a full jury trial. Family members and community advocates have had to absorb both the shock of the killings and the grind of a multi-year legal process.
Prosecutors' account
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell told the jury that Holder suffered 38 separate sharp-force wounds and that baby Kainoa suffered 17, and he said police recovered two large knives from the apartment, according to the Star-Advertiser. Bell also described what the state says was a message Ramsey wrote in blood on the wall: “I’m sorry. I stabbed her. She choked me.” Prosecutors say Ramsey then sped away, reaching about 119 miles per hour before crashing into another vehicle. Those details form the backbone of the state’s argument that the killings were purposeful, violent acts rather than the product of a mind that had simply snapped.
What Hawaii law allows
Hawaii law recognizes extreme mental or emotional disturbance as an affirmative defense that can reduce a murder charge to manslaughter if jurors decide the defendant was under an unusually intense emotional reaction at the time of the killing. Under Hawaii Revised Statutes section 707-702, as explained by Justia, the defense applies only if there is a reasonable explanation for the disturbance. Hawaii courts have described EMED as a level of stress that overwhelms reason and self-control. Court rulings such as the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Seguritan, as archived by Justia, have helped shape how the doctrine works in practice and what kind of evidence jurors are allowed to weigh.
What's next
Prosecutors previously brought the case to a grand jury and obtained an indictment in 2022, reviving charges after earlier proceedings, according to Hawaii News Now. This week jurors are expected to start hearing from witnesses, including the defense psychologist, and the evidence phase is anticipated to stretch into the summer. However the verdict comes down, the trial is poised to spotlight how Hawaii courts balance psychiatric explanations against what prosecutors describe as extraordinarily brutal and deliberate violence.
