A Honolulu jury on Wednesday convicted anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig, 47, of attempted manslaughter in a case prosecutors said involved a bid to kill his wife during a scenic hike on Oahu in March 2025, and the jury rejected a higher attempted-murder charge.
Konig was convicted after a day of deliberations, according to the verdict read in court. The jury found him guilty of attempted manslaughter tied to Hawaii’s standard for extreme mental or emotional disturbance, which carries a potential prison term of up to 20 years. Sentencing was set for Aug. 13.
Konig’s attorney, Thomas Otake, told reporters he planned to appeal but said the defense respected the jury’s verdict. Otake said the jury’s decision spared Konig from a conviction of attempted murder that would have meant life in prison.
Prosecutors said the attack happened during a weekend trip to Honolulu for Arielle Konig’s birthday and that Konig planned to kill her on a cliffside trail. They said he tried to push her off the cliff and stab her with a syringe, and that when the effort failed he struck her with a rock. Prosecutors said two hikers interrupted the assault after hearing her cries for help.
Konig testified that Arielle Konig was the aggressor and that she hit him with a rock first, prompting him to strike back in self-defense. The couple’s accounts, prosecutors’ descriptions, and the testimony of witnesses who were on the trail were at the center of jurors’ deliberations, jurors said after the verdict.
Jurors said their focus was on what happened on the trail and on where testimony from those at the scene matched or diverged. The jury foreperson, Makalapua Atkins, said in remarks after the verdict that jurors examined inconsistencies and “At the end of the day when it comes down to it, she was hit in the head. And a head injury can be serious. And that’s a very deadly part of the body,” Atkins told reporters.
Atkins said jurors also credited the prosecution’s theory that the relationship Arielle Konig had with a coworker was sufficient to cause “an emotional disturbance,” which she said affected their verdict. Under Hawaii law, jurors who believe a defendant committed attempted murder but also believe the act occurred under an extreme mental or emotional disturbance with a reasonable explanation must reduce the charge to attempted manslaughter.
During the trial, which aired parts through Court TV and began last month nearly a year after the hike, prosecutors and defense presented competing stories about how the confrontation began and what injuries occurred. Court testimony included the couple’s marital problems leading up to the hike, and their different versions of events on the Pali Puka trail in Honolulu.
Prosecutors said Konig used a syringe during the confrontation, while the defense disputed that account and argued Arielle Konig’s version was unreliable. During closing arguments, Otake said jurors should question why—if Konig wanted to kill his wife and had access to a syringe in a remote area—he allegedly would not have drugged her and then thrown her from the cliff rather than starting a scuffle before trying to use the syringe. Otake told jurors, “You would use the syringe first,” adding, “It makes no sense.”
Arielle Konig testified that her husband grabbed her and moved her toward the cliff’s edge, but that she threw herself to the ground in an attempt to hold on. She said he straddled her and held a syringe, and that she batted it away, then bit his forearm and squeezed his testicles as she tried to get him off her.
Gerhardt Konig denied pushing her toward the edge and testified that he hit her with a rock in self-defense. He said he wrestled the rock away and struck her with it twice. Konig also denied having any syringes on the mountain or trying to stab her, and defense argued no syringe was found because he never had one.
The trial included testimony about Konig’s reactions after the confrontation. Prosecutors, through deputy prosecutor Joel Garner, said Konig spent about eight hours hiding on the mountain and then tried to flee when confronted by police. Garner also said that when Konig called his adult son from a previous marriage, he made no reference to acting in self-defense during the call.
Konig testified that he believed his marriage and career were over as he watched Arielle Konig crawl away, and he said he decided to jump to his death before calling his son. He told jurors his call was to say goodbye, while Garner said the son told authorities that Konig said he “tried to kill your stepmom,” a claim Konig denied.
Prosecutors said Arielle Konig later filed for divorce. Konig’s parents declined to comment after the verdict, and Arielle Konig was not in court.