A man accused of robbing the Pahoa branch of First Hawaiian Bank at knifepoint on May 17, 2017, is going to get a third round of mental examinations by a panel of three mental health experts.
Anthony Louis Gover, who is charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, was found fit to stand trial on May 6, but has refused to either leave his cell at Hawaii Community Correctional Center or the holding cell at the Hilo courthouse for at least 20 court proceedings.
Gover, 59, was supposed to have stood trial on Sept. 9, but it was called off Sept. 4. On that date, Gover’s court-appointed attorney, Stanton Oshiro, told Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura that he was instructed to tell the court Gover would “enter the courtroom only if it was in a body bag.”
It wasn’t the first time Gover made such a pronouncement. On June 6, 2018, Deputy Public Defender Jeffrey Ng told the court Gover said “the only way he would appear in court is in a body bag.”
Wednesday’s proceeding was originally scheduled as a continuation of a hearing on a motion by prosecutors for a court order directing the state Department of Public Safety to transport Gover to court. Also on the schedule was a defense motion to dismiss charges against Gover on the grounds Gover was denied his right to a speedy trial.
Instead, Oshiro requested another mental examination, and prosecutors didn’t object.
Oshiro said he had a “candid” discussion with Gover, who “provided his prior mental health history” including hospitalization in Texas and California, and on Maui. According to Oshiro, one hospitalization “apparently was precipitated by an attempt … to jump out of a moving Greyhound bus.”
Oshiro said examiners, who previously found Gover to be malingering, which is feigning or exaggerating illness, will now have access to records previously unavailable to them.
“I think all of that information is relevant … especially given their (previous) reports that they had nothing and that Mr. Gover essentially refused to cooperate,” Oshiro told Nakamura. He added Gover assured him he will cooperate with examiners, “although he indicated that he did not wish to be found unfit because he didn’t want to be, quote, nuts, unquote.”
“He indicated that he was willing to go through the process to ensure he was, in fact, fit to proceed,” Oshiro said.
Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville told the judge he talked twice to Gover and thinks a mental condition “may impact on his willingness to appear in court.”
“I’ve been doing this for 38 years,” Damerville said. “It’s my opinion that he’s suffering from some type of schizoaffective disorder, probably with paranoid features. I’m not a psychiatrist or psychologist. But I’ve seen enough of these cases … that I believe if he cooperates with doctors — and he’s made a promise that he would — they will find some type of mental disorder.
“Whether or not that rises to the level of unfitness, I don’t know at this time.”
Nakamura granted the motion and ordered a hearing on examiners’ reports for 10:30 a.m. Dec. 20.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
