Trouble In Paradise Trial: Full Opening Statements

Help! Help! Help! Those are the words that Amanda Morris and Sarah Buckbomb heard as they were walking up the Polyuka Trail on March 24th, 2025. Amanda and Sarah heard those words, "Help! Help! Help!" and they rushed up the trail thinking that somebody had fallen off of the cliff on top.

They get to the section with the cliff and they see an Amanda sees a man on top of a woman. A man holding a rock. The man swings the rock, hits the woman in the head. Sarah sees that same man standing over that same woman holding that same rock. Both of them see the woman, Ariel Koig, with a face covered in blood.

In this trial, you will learn about Ariel Koig, who she is, what happened that day, but you'll also learn about The man holding the rock. The man who hit her with that rock. Dr. Ghard Kone, anesthesiologist, Ariel's husband, and the defendant in this case.

Now, Ariel and Dr. Koig, the defendant, normally don't live on Aahu. They're from Maui where ERA works remotely and Dr. Koig practices anesthesia. But that weekend, March 24th, 2025, just under a year ago, they came to Aahu for Ariel's birthday. Ariel's birthday. March 24th, the day this happened. It was actually Ariel's very first trip to Aahu. her first time coming to this island.

The defendant planned the trip. The defendant booked the tickets. The defendant booked the hotel room. The defendant planned the couple's activities. The defendant researched and planned the hike that he took Ariel on on that morning.

That morning, March 24th, 2025 around 10:00 in the morning, the defendant drives Ariel up to the poly lookout. They get to the poly lookout, the big tourist area overlooking the whole bunch of the winward side, and they get ready to go on the hike. The trail head for the Poly Puka Trail is in the bus parking lot of the Poly Lookout. So, not where rental cars or other people park. It's on the other side next to a set of bathrooms over a wall. So, the defendant takes Ariel there.

But when they get to the trail head, they see other potential hikers. They see other people looking for how to start the trail and Ariel wants to help them. She wants to help them find where the trail starts so that those people can hike up the trail. And she suggests that to the defendant. She says, "Why don't we show them where the trail is?" And he tells her, "No, he wants to hike with her alone. He doesn't want to help those people. He wants to hike with her alone." So they don't go up the trail at that point. They go to the poly lookout. They go to the tourist area with the plaques. They go to the lookout looking over all over the winward side and stay there for a few minutes, take photos, then go back to the trail.

Now when they go back, there's nobody else. They're alone and they start the hike together. They start the hike. It starts in a heavily forested area. You climb over a wall. You go past a sign. You start going up a hill. It's a steep hill. A lot of tree roots, but not a lot of uh brush cover on the very start. So, they go up this hill and they get to the top of the ridge. Once they get to the top of the ridge, the trail goes left. The trail follows the top of the ridge. On one side, the town side, there's a steep hill covered in forest, heavy brush on the ground. But on the other side, the windward side of the trail, sheer cliff, a several hundred foot drop. all the way to the bottom of the poly.

They start to hike up the trail. They start to hike up the ridge and they go for a few minutes. Everything's normal. But they get to a point where you need to climb with your hands and your feet a scramble area. Once they get to that point, Ariel gets freaked out by the exposure. She doesn't like that there's a big cliff to the right. She doesn't like there's a steep hill down the left. Doesn't like that she has to climb on her hands and feet. So, she wants to turn around. And the whole reason of going to the Poly Puka hike is because there's a puka up the trail. There is a a puka, a hole in the side of the mountain where you can look through the hole, take photos, where you can look out through the puka down at the windward side. But they never got there because Ariel wanted to turn around.

So Ariel stops hiking. She says she's not comfortable with this. She wants to turn around. The defendant goes on. He hooks another couple minutes up the trail. He hikes another couple minutes. Then he comes back and he tells Ariel. Tries to convince her to keep going. He tries to say, "Oh, this is the hardest part. Everything beyond this little bit easy." But Ariel's still not feeling it. Ariel doesn't want to go on. So, they start to descend. And as they start to descend the trail, as they start to walk down that ridge, now at this point, the steep hill with the forest is on the right, the town side, and the cliff side, the Wward side is on the left.

They walk down the trail. They're taking photos. They're sending photos to their family. um defendant ends up taking Ariel's phone to take photos of her to take a selfie and Ariel actually takes a photo of the defendant with her phone as well right by the cliff. Ariel takes a photo and she sends it to her family on an application called Snapchat with the tagline on there, don't look down.

The defendant then wants to take a photo with Ariel right by the edge of the cliff. And she says she's uncomfortable with it. She's uncomfortable with the cliff. She's uncomfortable with the fall, with the danger. So, she goes, she holds onto a tree and she tries to take the photo. The defendant goes back up away from the cliff back towards the trail. Ariel follows and then as Ariel's moving down the trail to safely get by the defendant at this narrow spot with the cliff behind her. The defendant ends up grabbing her by her shoulders. He pushes her backwards towards that cliff. Ariel goes to the ground. She goes to the ground. They start wrestling. They start struggling. They start fighting. And in that fight, the defendant gains the advantage. The defendant gets on top of Ariel. The defendant is straddling Ariel over her waist, pinning her onto the ground. And Ariel's trying to fight back. She's trying to struggle, but she sees in the defendant's hand a syringe. She sees in the defendant's hand a syringe and she tries to hit it away. She hits it. The syringe falls out the defendant's hand and then she sees a vial in the same hand. As the defendant reaches into the backpack he had, reaching in there trying to grab something. Ariel still struggles. She still tries to take that vial out of his hand. And they keep fighting. And at this time, the defendant has Ariel's phone. The defendant is holding on to Ariel's purse. The defendant is holding on to Ariel's wallet. Ariel pleads with the defendant. She talks about their children. She asks the defendant not to do this. She begs him not to do this. And the defendant says, "I'm sick of this [ __ ] He's sick of this shit."

Ariel calms the defendant down. She thinks she calms the defendant down until the defendant picks up that rock. Until the defendant picks up that rock that Amanda Morris saw. Until the defendant picks up that rock that Sarah Boxbomb saw. And just when she thought the defendant had calmed down, he starts to take that rock and bash her in the head multiple times. Help! Help! Help! Is what Ariel says while the defendant is hitting her. And those cries were answered. Those cries were answered when Amanda Morris and Sarah Bucks bomb arrived on the scene.

The defendant stood up. Amanda again saw him hit Ariel. Defendant stands up. Ariel is able to scoot away. Ariel is able to get to Amanda and Sarah, and they're able to get Ariel safely down the rest of the trail. Once Amanda or once Ariel got to that safety of Amanda and Sarah, the defendant was left alone at the scene. Alone with Ariel's phone, alone with Ariel's wallet, alone with Ariel's purse, alone with the syringe, and alone with the vial. All those items, Ariel's phone, purse, wallet, the syringe, the vial, those were never recovered.

The story doesn't end quite there. Once Arrow gets to safety, a few minutes later, at 10:36 a.m., the defendant takes his phone out. He dials his son, his 19-year-old son named Emil. He calls him on the FaceTime application on his phone. He does a video call so Emil can see his dad. And Emil sees his dad with blood all over him. And what does the defendant say to Emil? He says, "I'm not going to make it back. I tried to kill Ary, but she got away." That's what the defendant tells Emil. He doesn't just tell Emil that he tried to kill Ariel, though. He tells her why. The defendant tells Emil, "She's been cheating on me for the last three months, for the last several months." He gives his motive to Emil and he explains his reasoning. He even tells Emil, "I'm at the end of my rope."

An hour later, the defendant calls Emil back. The first question the defendant asks him, "Emil, did you tell anybody?" And Emil says, "Yes." Emil says, "I told Judy and Peter Mast, Ariel's mom and stepdad." Now, how does the defendant respond? He says he's going to jump. Emil tells him not to, tries to convince him not to, and the defendant ends the phone call by saying, "I got to hang up so the police don't find me." That phone call was at around 11:40 a.m. That's the last anyone heard of the defendant for the next 6 to 7 hours.

The defendant told Emil that he was turning his phone off so the police couldn't find him. And for a long time they couldn't despite a manhunt that lasted for almost eight hours that day. multiple different agencies, Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Fire Department, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, multiple agencies, all trying to find the defendant, all searching for him in that forest up there at the Polypuka area. None of them could find him. But later on, as the sun was getting ready to set, few minutes after 6:00 p.m., March 24th, 2025, three HPD officers are headed back to the station. They've been called off the search. They're done. They couldn't find him. But as they're driving on that road that goes from the Poly lookout back to the Poly Highway back to town, they're driving out and they see a man. They see a man exit the forest. A man matching the description of the defendant. They identify themselves. They say, "Police, police." The man runs. He tries to get to the forest. He tries to escape them. The officers catch up. They apprehend him. They do use force to do so. And the def and the man is identified as Dr. Gard Coin.

Now, you'll hear about this case. You've all been informed about how long this trial is going to be. So, you hear about this case in a couple different phases. First, we'll hear from witnesses Amanda Morris, Sarah Bucksbomb. You'll hear what happened up at the Poly Lookout on March 24th, 2025. You'll hear how the investigation proceeded. You'll hear from the HPD officers who responded. You'll hear from the DNR officer responded. You'll hear from the evidence specialists who went to the scene, who took photographs of the bloody patch on the ground, of the crushed plants, the trail of blood. You'll see those photos. You'll see the photos of Ariel at the scene and how she looked like immediately after this happened. You'll hear from Ariel herself. She'll testify as to what happened on March 24th, her birthday, and she'll testify on March 24th of this year. One year later, she'll describe what happened that day. She'll describe the three months, almost four months leading up to that day. She'll describe this cheating that the defendant was upset about because back in December 2024, the defendant found WhatsApp messages between Ariel and a coworker. Ariel describes them as flirty. You will see the messages. You will see the messages and you will get to see what they say. There's nothing lewd. There's nothing sexual. There's nothing romantic. They're flirty. But this was an issue in their relationship. The defendant was upset. Ariel wanted to stay in the relationship. They take the steps. They go to couples counseling. Things are getting better. Things are getting better. And Ariel keeps think thinking, "Okay, now it's time. A romantic trip, birthday weekend. We're back on track." Lastly, Ariel will explain what happened after this incident. So after March 24th, what kind of injuries she had, what kind of effects they had on her, she'll explain, and you will hear testimony that Ariel, after this happened by several days, removed the money from a joint bank account that she shared with the defendant. You'll hear that Ariel removed that money, that she used it to pay the mortgage, that she used it to pay for the tuition for the children she shared with the defendant, that she used it to pay marital debt that they'd incurred. That she used it to pay the defendant's own credit card bills. So, you'll see what Ariel did with that money.

Okay. Beyond that, you'll hear scientific evidence in this case. There will be DNA testimony. All of the blood, all of the blood that was found on the trail was swabbed. All that blood was subjected to DNA testing. And all that blood through the DNA testing shows an incredibly high likely ratio that supports is Ariel's blood and only her blood. But not only the blood from the trail. Several different swabs from the defendant's clothes recovered from his person. All will show Ariel's blood and none will show his. You'll see the evidence that was collected. You'll see the rock. You'll see the rock that was recovered from the trail. The bottom half jagged, covered in Ariel's blood.

You'll also hear in this case what's called digital forensics. The police recovered a laptop, the defendant's laptop, and they looked through that laptop for certain terms, and they found from December 2024 through March 2025 several relevant things that you'll hear. You'll hear that defendant on Christmas Eve 2024, 3 in the morning, was on the internet looking up internet forum posts about infidelity. You hear the defendant on Christmas Day at 4 in the morning was doing the same thing. You'll hear that on Christmas Eve, I'm sorry, New Year's Eve, 8:30 p.m., the defendant was looking up Ariel's financial information. You'll see from the forensics that in those months leading up to March 24th, you will see what was on the defendant's mind by looking at the digital forensics. you'll see that he was looking up divorce. He was looking up how much his prior divorce had cost him. He was looking up notes on Ariel's computer about divorce. He was looking up Ariel's financials. And lastly, from the digital forensics, you will see these messages that the defendant was so upset about.

Okay, almost there. Okay, near the end, the last couple phases of this trial, you'll hear from Emil Koig. He'll testify what happened on March 24th. He'll testify about that first phone call, about what his dad told him, about why his dad did it. He'll testify about that second phone call, about what his dad told him he was going to do. You'll hear that the defendant confessed and that he planned to hide from the police. And lastly, at the end, you'll hear from the officers who successfully apprehended the defendant on their way back to the station. um just ran into him. So, you hear from them what they saw, what the defendant did, and how they managed to catch him. And at the end of this case, at the end of all this evidence, the state will come back, the evidence will show, and the state will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Dr. Ghar Koig consciously, intentionally made a choice on March 24th, 2025 to try to take a life. And when the state does that, we will ask you to find the defendant guilty as charged. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Garter. Mr. Osaki, are you ready to present defendants opening statement? >> I am, your honor. Thank you. Please just a second to get set up here. >> Take your time whenever you're ready. Thanks. Okay. Ready, please. Uh, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. There are often two sides to every story, and it's only fair that we wait to hear both sides before we start to make up our mind. You just heard one side. You just heard one side and this is my opportunity to share with you the other side to share with you the full story both sides to share with you the the complex human interactions between Ghart and his wife and the complex human chain of events between December and March that resulted in him sitting here falsely accused of attempted murder. And the evidence will show he is falsely accused of attempted murder. And let me get one thing straight from the start. He never ever confessed to his son on that phone call. The evidence will show that's not true. This this is a long complex human story and I'm going to walk you through all the details of it this morning. However, the evidence will show that this this story this human story can be summarized best in three words. Just in in summary, three words. Unfaithful, unwilling, and untrue. unfaithful, unwilling, and untrue.

Unfaithful. Ariel Coning was unfaithful to her husband. In the latter part of 2024, she engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a man she worked with, a married man named Jeffrey Miller, an affair. When Ghart discovered it in early December 2024, he was heartbroken. He was devastated and and he didn't know if if they could come back from that. He didn't know if he could trust her again. He didn't know if he wanted to. But they both had a lot invested in this marriage. They both had moved to Maui. They had two very young boys together. And they thought they should try. Both of them wanted to try. But in order to try, there was going to be things that Ghart needed on a human level. On a human level, there's just going to be things he needed to heal from her uh inappropriate relationship with Mr. Miller. He was going to need her to quit her job and never speak to communicate or be together with Mr. Miller again. Understandable. She loved her job. She She liked her job very much. It's a very rare unique job. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that. But he needed her to quit and not be around Mr. Miller. He needed her to accept responsibility, not not minimize, not be defensive, show remorse for this relationship that she had. And you will see the messages, some of them because she deleted most of them, but the ones you'll see, you'll see. And you'll see where she in text messages to him admits that she had an affair. You'll see it. So, he needed her to accept it and he needed her to show remorse and he needed her to give up some of her secrecy. She had been hiding things, deleting things. So, he needed that if he was going to trust her again. He needed her to be more open and not hide these things. And and he needed some intimacy from her, emotional in intimacy, but also physical to feel to feel better, to feel like she still cared about him.

Unwilling. Second word. The evidence will show that after being confronted by this by him, she initially admits to it, accepts responsibility, and says she wants to do these things. Says, "Yeah, you know, you're right. I I want to make this work. I'm not I'm going to quit my job. no more contact with Miller, do all these things. Very quickly that changed. She very quickly became unwilling to do those things that it was going to take to live this way to make it work. Primarily, she did not want to quit her job. And not seeing Mr. Miller in person was affecting her job. So, she didn't quit. She said, "But I just won't talk to him. I won't be with him." But that was affecting her job into January and February. So, she quickly became unwilling to do those things. And that unwillingness led to a very tumultuous January and February of 2025 because they would make some progress and then she would, you know, she wouldn't be willing. They would take a couple steps back. It was an emotional roller coaster for both of them. Complex human interactions, but they were trying. They were trying. They were trying. This leads to March when in an effort to try, Ghard asks her, "Hey, your birthday's coming up. What do you want to do?" She is the one who said, "Hey, I've been wanting to go on a station to Aahu." You will see it. She admits to that. So, they go on this trip to Aahu and they go on this hike and I'm going to get into a lot more details, but you're going to hear how on the hike she brought it up and she said, "Hey, you know, it's been a while now. I got to see Mr. Miller again for work. You got to trust me." And he's he's he's dumbfounded. He realizes they made zero progress over the last 3 months. She doesn't understand what he's going through. She's not willing to do what it's going to take. And he tells her, "Well, this isn't, you know, this isn't going to work. You're going to have to move out. And I'm going to tell all our family and friends about your affair. It's just not going to work. This leads to a physical altercation that she started. She started. She came after him, started kicking, punching. They end up on the ground. She's swinging at him. He's grabbing an arm. He's swinging. She's swinging with the other arm. She's kicking him." As the prosecutor said, they're on the ground. She picks up a rock and hits him in the face with it. And he quickly reacts, human reaction, grabs the rock, hits her twice, and stops.

Untrue. Untrue. After that, knowing that the marriage is over, knowing that this is heading for a divorce and custody battle, the evidence will show Ariel Coning says many untrue things about what happened. And she did so, you will see, to get the upper hand in the coming divorce and custody case. And you will see how she is using the allegations in this case, in the divorce, to get everything, his retirement, the house, full custody, everything unfaithful. to her husband, unwilling to do what it was going to take. Untrue things after all of this happens on the cliff. Says untrue things. I'm going to get into this in a lot more detail over the next half an hour. um, but there's a few things I want to address up front. The evidence will show there was absolutely no premeditated plan to take her up to this busy parking lot, the poly lookout parking lot in broad daylight in the middle of the morning at 10 something in the morning and try to try try to kill her in broad daylight. There was no premeditated plan. This was an unplanned unanticipated scuffle that happened between a couple. There was no plan. Number two, the evidence will show there was absolutely no syringes on the mountain that day. He didn't have any syringes. wasn't trying to stab her. The evidence will show he never tried to throw her off the cliff. She attacked him, pushed him, and they ended up in a scuff on the ground. He never tried to throw off the cliff. Number four, the evidence will show he did hit her with the rock. He did hit her with the rock, and she does have I I'll tell you, she's got a bad cut on her head. She's got a a severe laceration on her head from it. And it bleeds a lot, but the evidence will show medically speaking, it looked worse than it was. You'll hear from Queen's doctors who treated her that day and said that there was no substantial risk of death from the cut and it didn't even rise to the level of serious bodily injury. She had no uh skull fractures, brain bleeds. She was they they stitched her up, they let her go the next morning. That's what the medical evidence will show. The evidence will show he never confessed to his son. I'm going to talk more about that later. That's what the evidence will show.

Now before I get into the details more, I want to share a little bit with you about Dr. Kon Gearhart. He's 47 years old. He was 46 when this happened. He was actually born and born and raised initially in uh South Africa. um his parents uh Peter, his dad, and uh his mom Anuel flew in today. They were raising the kids. He has three siblings, two brothers and a sister. um, Laru, Ruran, and Lisa, just siblings. At some point when Ghard was about 9th grade, they moved to San Diego. um, just there's things going on in South Africa at the time. They wanted to come come and a better situation. Ghart graduated from high school, went to college, UC San Diego, majored in um bio engineering, worked a little bit, went to med school. He got married young. His first marriage when he was 20 years old, he married a lady named Jessica Ray Ray Patella. And they had two kids. uh when he was relatively young, young still in medical school. um Oilia, his his older daughter, and then Emil. You're going to hear a lot about Emile. And he gra he finished med school. He did his residency in anesthesiology and um became board certified. Was actually teaching as a professor. and and sometime in his residency, his first marriage, they they they separated, they got a divorce. So, he knows what it's like to get a divorce. You know, it's not ideal. He didn't want to do it again, but it wasn't a situation where like if you know, he had to I'm going to kill her if I can't be with her. No, he's been through it. So, they separate and uh with from his first wife. He when it's time for him to start dating again, he starts he goes online and uses a dating for some a couple of free dating apps. It didn't really work out. So, he paid for a subscription to uh e-harmony.com and at some point Ariel Coney reaches out to him and they go on a date at a bar and things um progress from there. They get married in 2018. They have their first son, uh, Olan, uh, is born in 2020 and they're living in Pittsburgh at the time. He's working, she's working, and they wanted to find a a a safer place to live. There was a lot of gun violence in the area. It was important to them to find a a a safer, maybe warmer place as well. And they fell in love with Maui. um, for for those reasons, they fell in love with Maui. um, it was going to be a hit to their careers though because especially her um what she does nuclear engineering and she works on these big nuclear energy projects. It wasn't really jobs like that in Maui. But she was she wanted to do that and and and come here. And so that's what they did. They moved here in March of 2023. And right before they moved here, literally the month before their second son, uh VGO was born. um right before they moved. So, they moved here and from March 2023 until December 2024. For Ghart, it was a dream life. He had a he got a good job at at Maui Memorial. um, he loved his wife. He loved his kids living in paradise on Maui. It was a great life. He was he loved his marriage.

In 2024, we find out Ariel didn't necessarily feel the same way. In August of 2024, she has to travel a lot from work for work because she works virtually. In August of 2024, she goes on a trip to South Africa with Jeff Miller, with Jeffrey Miller. And Gart knows about it, but he has no reason to be concerned. He's not really worried about it at all. She comes back in October. The family, they go on a trip to Kauaii for Emil's birthday. And for the first time, he starts to see some red flags. He he overhears her talking on the phone to Mr. Miller, which is supposed to be a work call, and it just didn't sound right. It was it was overly flirty. It was the way someone in a relationship would talk to another, and it bothered him. But he said, "Ah, maybe, you know, I'm not, you know, this weird, but you know, things progress in November and December. He keeps seeing these things when he walks in, she's texting somebody, she hides her phone, you know, and and he starts to a lot of red flags. So, he goes into detective mode. And in early December when she's sleeping, he logs onto her phone and she's not text messages, not emails for work. She finds a WhatsApp message thread between her and Miller. And it was more than flirty. It was very, very concerning. It was inappropriate. And what concerned him a lot is it was clear she was deleting a lot of it. She was deleting a lot of it. So he he's he's now he's really really worried. Really worried. He stays home the next day and now he uses his computer and he logs onto WhatsApp and he's able to log into her WhatsApp and he sees live the communication throughout the day between her and Miller and and it was it was clear what was going on between the two of them and he'll tell you about what he saw.

Knowing now that she was in this inappropriate relationship and this affair with Mr. Miller, he he was heartbroken and he didn't know quite what to do. So, a couple of days go by, they had a trip planned um to St. Louis Aby abyso and he ends up confronting her about it there. She's immediately apologetic. She says she admits to it and they they they they have, you know, it's it's it's hard. It's a lot of tears, a lot of crying, a lot of working through it that weekend. They don't know what to do. And and and and he was telling her, I don't know what I maybe you should move out. Maybe you should move out. And by the end, they agree, okay, not you don't not going to move out, but you know, these are the things that he needed, right? And we talked about that. And he shared, you know, with her he she he needed to she needed to quit her job. She needed to not see him anymore and all the things that I talked to you about earlier. They get back to Maui and she actually starts looking for a new job. you will hear that there's no other job like hers and she quickly realizes she wasn't willing to give that up. She wanted her career mattered to her more than doing what Ghar needed to stop working with this man.

Now January and February like I said a lot of emotional roller coaster working on it making progress realizing she's not really she starts minimizing she starts bringing up things he should have done differently they they end up in counseling the counseling's about other things as well and they're making some progress it's kind of like one step forward two steps back but they're still trying and this comes to to the March trip that I talked to you about Now, he does suggest, "Let's do something for your birthday." She says, "Why don't we go on a trip to Aahu?" This was not some big plan of his to get her to Aahu, the more crowded place, and try to kill her in broad daylight. Okay, that that that's the evidence will not support that. They came here for her birthday. The first night, I think they get here on a Sunday. They have a they have a good day. They go to the spa together. You'll see some photos from from the trip. They're enjoying themselves. They go to dinner that night. Next day is her birthday. They wake up. They go downstairs. They they get coffee. The plan was they were going to go on this hike. She knew about the hike. They researched it together before coming here. She packed her hiking stuff. It was something that she was excited about. And then after that, they were going to spend some time at the pool. And you will see the reservation from Fet restaurant that he made for dinner that night. You will see it. He had dinner reservations for Fet that very night when apparently he had a plan to throw off a mountain that day. There was reservations at the restaurant. So that was what the day was supposed to be. You'll hear they start heading up to to the mountain and and that morning you'll hear about this some life insurance issues. You'll hear that after this affair and all of that they when there as a way to kind of commit he wanted to increase his life insurance for her. He wanted to increase his for her. So you you'll hear he took the steps to increase his life insurance to $1.5 million and it came in two stages. The million got got approved about a week or so before and that morning the second half of that got approved and you see on the document he made her the sole beneficiary. He got an email that very morning of the hype and he shared it with her and he said, "Hey, look, good news. It's all all approved, 1.5 million in effect." I think hers had was up to maybe 2 250,000 or something like that. And so that was on the way there. He shared that with her.

So they get there and you're going to see the body cam or you're going to see evidence. It's a super crowded parking lot. Tour buses, tourists, people everywhere, cars everywhere. He he says, "Well, it was a separate tour bus one and that they're right next to each other. It's the same parking lot. It's a very very crowded place. It's popular trail." This incident that they described that I'll describe today, it took place about 5 minutes in from that parking lot. It took place 5 minutes in from that parking lot in broad daylight. There was no effort to go on this hike alone. They had some trouble. First time there, they're looking for the trail head. They go to check out the Poly Lookout. They start up on the trail. On the trail, they start talking about the progress they're making and things like that. And she says, "Hey, you know, I need you to start trusting me more. You know, it's been a while. I, you know, we've made progress. I got to be able to travel for work. I got to be able to be in the same place as Mr. Miller. You don't have to worry about it, but I do need it's impacting my work." Okay. We're not here saying that she wanted to divorce him and marry Mr. Miller. She had this, you know, affair on the side and whatever it was, but now she was worried about her job and she was saying, "I I, you know, I got to be able it's affecting my work." And he's dumb, like I said, he's dumbfounded. It showed that she has she had zero understanding of what he was going through in the last 3 months, how hard it was, how hard it was for him. And that leads him to tell her, you know, like I this is crazy. this isn't going to work. You know, this this isn't going to work and you're going to have to move out. And you know, people are going to ask why. And I'm going to I'm going to tell them why. Because of your relationship with Mr. Jeffrey Miller, your coworker. Of course, she's upset and this is very important. And she she you will hear this from her at that point. She says, "I don't want to go on this hike anymore." You know, understandably, they're in a big fight, right? But they're 5 minutes in from the parking lot. You'll see it's not very far up. It's not sheer cliffs on every side when you're walking up there. There's bushes and you know, they're 5 minutes in. And she says, "I don't want to go on this hike. Very important." He says, "Okay, well fine. I'm going on my I'm going on up on my own." And he leaves her there and continues on. That will be undisputed. Leaves her there. Equally important. He goes up a little bit, five minutes in and he's like, "This is, you know, he's this is ridiculous. I, you know, I'm not going to go on this hike, you know, just forget it. Let's just go get go back to the hotel and just, you know, go home." Comes back down and she will tell you this undisputed. He gets there and he says to her, "Oh, you're still here. I thought you were going back to the car." The evidence will show he had no plan to take her up there and kill her. The evidence will show he left her on the hike thinking she was going back to the car. This idea about, oh, she got away and and and and escaped from me. He left her thinking she was going back to the car. This is not some some fight over not wanting to take a photo in the right place. He gets back down there and and she she's acting different and they're trying they're she's acting very differently. You'll hear about it. And what happens next is he turns around and he's just, you know, they're talking and she's saying, "Look, let's just forget about it. We, you know, whatever, whatever." He's looking out over towards the cliff area and he feels a shove from behind. feels a shove from behind and he turns around and he says to her, "What? What the hell was that?" And it felt to him that she tried to push him towards the edge and he turns around and he says to her, "What are you doing?" And she starts screaming this, however he said it, "Help! Help! Help!" She starts screaming and she's backing away after pushing him and she's yelling, "Help! Help! Help!" She's not saying he's hitting me, he's killing me or anything like that. You'll hear from the witnesses. They thought he she somebody fell off the cliff. And he's he's turning around. He's saying, "What are you what are you what are you what why did you push me? What are you?" And he's walking towards her and she's yelling, "Help! Help!" And he puts his hands on her to calm her down. And she starts swinging. She starts swinging. She starts kicking. He's grabbing her. Ends up on the ground. This scuffle was unplanned, unexpected, and escalated quickly. They're on the ground. I described what happened. She's punching him. She's kicking him. He's on top of her trying to stop. He's, you know, hits him. She tries to grab that arm, hits him with the other arm, kicking him. She picks up the rock and hits him with the rock on the side of his head. And she tries to hit him again. He stops. He gets the rock and in a split second, human reaction. Under attack. He hits her with the rock. It was a reflex. It was a reaction. It was in response to the force that he had just experienced. But he stops. He stops because the the hit made her stop. And as soon as she stopped, he stopped. It was about this time these two witnesses got there. One of them doesn't even see him hit her at all. The other will tell you she saw one hit. One hit. They got there. They said when they heard it, they came around the corner and and by then he was standing and he had he he had the rock and he didn't hit her. They saw the very tail end of this. They don't know how it started. They didn't see who started it. They got there at the very end. He hit her once and he stopped after that. The witnesses are there. She's yelling out to them. She crawls. She crawls down to them and you hear from them. He stands there. He doesn't come after her. He doesn't aggress towards them. He doesn't yell at them. He doesn't try to grab her and continue to throw her off. She had stopped assaulting him. He had backed away. And he saw that she was okay. He saw that she was talking and and yelling to the witnesses. He saw that. and they make their way down the trail.

Now, the ambulance comes, there's a lot of blood because you'll hear that part of the head. It's that the scalp, it bleeds a lot. They take her to Queens and you'll hear when they get there because she was not in any type of critical condition. She never lost consciousness or anything like that. The ambulance has to wait outside for 20 to 30 minutes or more because of triage because there's more serious patients. So, they're sitting in the ambulance waiting. Okay. She eventually tells the police detective that he wanted her to take a selfie. She didn't want to. And he said, "I'm sick of this shit." and he grabbed her, tried to throw off the cliff, picked up s had some syringes, which apparently she says she can just flick out of his hand. And then she tells the detective he beats her with the rock 10 times with all his might. Over and over and over and over again. I know that wasn't 10, but you get the point. Okay? Over and over again, she says 10 times with all his might, he beats her with the rock. You will see photos of it. You'll hear from the medical experts in this case, two from Queens, and we have a a forensic pathologist who will talk to you about that. The physical injuries, while the laceration is significant, is inconsistent with being hit in your head 10 times with all your might. She had no skull fractures, no brain brain bleeds, no orbital fractures. She never lost consciousness. The two doctors said there was no substantial risk of death. They said that it wasn't serious bodily injury and she went home the next day. I'll be the first to tell you the the photos you're going to see are graphic. There is a bad laceration from the hit from the rock. You'll see it. You'll see it. There is a bad laceration. But you'll hear medically speaking from the medical doctors in this case, it's not as bad as it looks. You're going to see there's blood everywhere because you'll hear that area a lot of blood vessels. There's blood everywhere. She never loses consciousness. No risk of death from the injuries. Stitched up. Went home the next went home the next day. And it was a rock. He hit her with a rock in response to him her hitting him.

So meanwhile, Gard's up on the mountain and and this is important, okay? You're going to hear a lot of evidence from him what was happening going through his mind. This is a like I said, the evidence will show this is a human story, okay? Human story. He's stunned about what happened. He's in shock. they he doesn't go after them. They go down and he immediately goes into almost a despondent state. He he he realizes his marriage is over. He realizes she's yelling to them, "Call the police. He's trying to kill me." He realizes his his career could very well be over. He's he saw that she was hurt and you're here. He was he was disappointed. He was remorseful. He was upset about the whole incident. He never wanted it to come to that. He never wanted her to be hurt. And he was disappointed in himself that he reacted that way the way he did. He was remorseful that he reacted when in that split second. And he went into a deep state of depression, sadness, disappointment to a place where he became suicidal. And they're, you know, they're going to say the evidence shows this shows his cautiousness of guilt that he stayed on the mountain. The evidence will show it shows that he was human dealing with this what just happened realizing he's he could lose everything and and you know his marriage is over. So he stayed up on the mountain and he was suicidal. He was going back and forth between jumping off the cliff and not thinking about his kids. And the one person he wanted to talk to was his 19-year-old son, Emile. His son, not not not Miss Conig. And he calls Emil. And you'll hear it was an incredibly emotional phone call. He was calling him to say goodbye. He was calling him to tell him he was sorry. He was calling him to tell him that he wished he was a better man. And he he he'll tell you, you know, he he feels terrible about putting his son in that position. He'll tell you he never should have done that, but that was the emotional state he was in at the time. He never in that conversation confessed about my go my goal was to kill your mom, but she got away. He never said that. He talked about what happened. He talked about how he hurt her. He never said that. those things. Not that way. Not that way. Emilio tries to talk to him. Dad, don't don't kill yourself. A horrible situation for a boy that age to be in. But it but it made him think stayed up there longer. Finally, before the sun set, he decides, "Okay, I got to come

down. It's time to just come down and deal with this." He had worked through some of those emotions. He said, "I'm going to come down and just deal with this."

So, he comes down while the sun is still out onto the main road where where the cops are. Not trying to escape by coming down to the main road where all the cops are. Not waiting till it's dark. Comes down. He's been up there processing everything that just happened, going through his emotional phases related to it. And now he comes down and the cops grab him and you know they they think he's fleeing so they grab him and he's you know they you know he's a little you know what they apprehend him. They apprehend him.

He He'll tell you he he feels awful that she got hurt and you'll see it. I'm I'm I'm telling you there's blood everywhere. There there's a big gash. It was just one maybe two hits with the rock and then that's it. That's it. Medically speaking, not that bad. Visually, the photographs look horrible. Just letting you know. But you hear from the doctors. It was not life-threatening. It was not serious body injury. They stitched her up. You know, 3 days later, she leaves the hospital. 3 days later, she logs on. He he mentioned it. She gets an attorney within a day or two. someone who attorney specializ in criminal defense, TTRO, things like that. He gets an attorney. She gets an attorney.

3 days after this incident, she goes on to their joint accounts, moves 130 grand. It's primarily his money without his permission. She's in touch with her attorney. They file a restraining order against him. The hearing's coming up. She knows she has to take the stand, testify under oath. Instead of take the stand, testify under oath, be cross-examined, she dismisses the restraining order against him.

Shortly thereafter, you hear that she files for divorce. And you hear how even as recently as last week, her and her attorney that she signed off on this filed something saying because he attempted to kill me, I should get full custody of the kids. I should get the house. I should get half his retirement and keep mine. Things that she would never get absent these allegations.

Just last week, Digital Forensics. They got good guys that work there. They went through his entire computer, every last search. They were looking for searches like kill wife, dangerous, hike. They didn't find any of that. Didn't find anything of that. He was looking into infidelity and and things like that. He was trying to process it. You'll see how she was as well listening to audio books about affairs and things like that.

Ladies and gentlemen, I ask that you wait till you hear everything. Even the law on self-defense. Even the law on self-defense that you learn at the end. I ask you to keep an open mind. He never wanted her to get hurt. He feels terrible about that. He's disappointed in himself. He had a human reaction, a human reflex to her hitting him with the rock. And then he stopped. And then because of the person that he is, he was so disappointed that he went into this state of depression, suicidal thoughts, and that's why he was on the mountain.

This is going to be a complex long human story. It's also, the evidence will show, going to be a sad one for everyone involved, for Miss Conig, their kids, and and for Ghart. But it's not a simple story. The evidence will show, it's not so simple of she had an affair, therefore he had a motive to kill her. The evidence will show human life, human emotions, human interactions are often much more complex than that. So, I ask that you keep an open mind. Listen to this entire human story. Use your logic, reason, and common sense.

She said he was trying to load the syringe in the middle of the fight. If he the evidence will show if he had a plan to use syringes, you think he might had it have it loaded ahead of time. They mentioned the things that were missing, the syringes. The evidence show the rock is found right there. Right there. The evidence will show if somebody's going to hide evidence, they'd hide all of it. There was no syringes on the mountain, no attempt to throw them off a cliff. The witnesses got there at the very end. They did not see who started it or how it started.

I ask I thank you for your time this morning. I thank you for keeping open mind as we know you will. As you now know, there are two sides to this story, and it'll be your job at the end to use your reason, logic, and common sense and see which one makes more sense. Was this about not being willing to take a selfie, or was this about a lot more? Thank you.