A 34-year-old Pahoa woman allegedly involved in a brief armed standoff with police last week in a custodial interference case will receive a court-ordered mental examination.
A panel of three mental health professionals will evaluate Calla R.G.M. Weddington to determine her fitness to stand trial. The examination, according to court records, won’t include the issue of penal responsibility, which is whether Weddington understood the wrongful and unlawful nature of her alleged actions at the time of the incident.
Weddington is charged with custodial interference, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, domestic abuse, second-degree assault and first-degree attempted assault of a police officer.
At her initial court appearance Tuesday, Hilo District Judge Mahilani Hiatt ordered the mental exam, with no objection by Deputy Prosecutor Georgia Berrenberg. Berrenberg did, however, object to a motion by Deputy Public Defender Arthur Indiola to free Weddington on supervised release — a form of cashless bail — and Hiatt denied the motion.
The judge ordered Weddington to return to court July 25, but Weddington was indicted on Wednesday, which moves her case upstairs to the courtroom of Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto.
Weddington remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center on $7,500 bail.
According to court documents filed by police, Weddington removed her 9-year-old daughter from a public charter school in Hilo in violation of a Family Court order that awarded full temporary physical custody of the girl to her father.
Officers who responded on May 24 to Weddington’s home on Lehua Drive in Ainaloa Estates subdivision saw the mother and the daughter inside the home with the girl “crying hysterically,” according to the documents.
Officers advised Weddington twice to open the door to the home, and she allegedly refused, shouting “no.” When officers asked the girl if she wanted to leave the house, the girl responded “yes,” according to the documents.
Police say Weddington then yelled out to officers to leave or she would stab them.
Sgt. Matthew Lewis opened the front door — which was unlocked, according to the documents — and was reportedly met by a knife-wielding Weddington, who lunged toward him “in a very aggressive manner.”
Lewis retreated, shouted “Knife! Knife! Knife!” documents state, and drew his sidearm without firing. Weddington eventually came out of the home without the knife and surrendered to police.
The child sustained minor knife wounds to her forearm and chest, and told officers they were caused by her mother, documents state. The child received medical assistance at the scene and was later released to the custody of her father.
The charges of first-degree unlawful imprisonment, second-degree assault, and first-degree attempted assault of a police officer are Class C felonies punishable by up to five years imprisonment. The custodial interference and domestic abuse charges are misdemeanors, and convictions carry a maximum sentence of a year in jail.
Weddington has no prior felony convictions.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
