A Nanawale murder suspect who reportedly told mental examiners hip-hop superstar Jay Z possessed his body at the time of the slaying has been found fit for trial.
A Nanawale murder suspect who reportedly told mental examiners hip-hop superstar Jay Z possessed his body at the time of the slaying has been found fit for trial.
Hilo District Judge Barbara Takase on Tuesday scheduled a status hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 4 for Jason Russell Jump.
The 39-year-old Jump is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly bludgeoning his landlord, James V. Johns, to death on Dec. 16, 2012.
According to police, the slaying of Johns, a 54-year-old wheelchair user, occurred in a tool shed on Johns’ Seaview Road property.
Jump, who was previously found unfit to proceed, appeared for Tuesday’s hearing by videoconference from Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe, Oahu. He was in the courtroom Oct. 9 for a contested fitness hearing requested by his court-appointed defense attorney, Stanton Oshiro, because of difference in opinions by examiners, two of whom found Jump fit to proceed, while a third found him unfit.
While ruling, Takase summarized the examiners’ findings.
She said psychologist Dr. Alex Lichton, who diagnosed Jump as schizophrenic but found him fit, “believed the defendant … had a factual and rational understanding of the court proceedings.”
The judge noted that psychologist Dr. Duke Wagner “believes that the defendant is highly delusional, doesn’t have a rational understanding and cannot communicate with his attorney, and therefore believes the defendant is unfit.”
The third examiner, psychiatrist Dr. Leonard Jacobs, said Jump left an interview “of his own volition” after a few minutes and said Jump was malingering, which means faking or exaggerating symptoms of mental illness.
“Dr. Jacobs’ diagnosis was that the defendant has a delusional disorder,” Takase said, adding Jacobs found Jump fit.
Also testifying in October was Dr. Edmund Valerio, Jump’s attending psychiatrist in the state mental hospital, who said he thought Jump was malingering and fit.
“Dr. Valerio’s testimony indicated that although … the defendant has a delusional disorder, the delusions do not affect the defendant’s ability to be fit and communicate with his attorney,” Takase said, adding she found Jump fit based on the written reports, testimony and “the court’s own observations of the defendant during the fitness hearing.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.