HONOLULU (CN) - Honolulu prosecutors opened closing arguments on Tuesday in a Maui doctor's attempted murder trial detailing what they described as three escalating plans, each with the goal of murdering his wife on a hiking trail.

"Plan A was the push. The intent was to kill," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joel Garner told 16 jurors. "When Plan A didn't work, the defendant moved on to Plan B. Plan B: inject her with the syringe, knock her out, push her off the cliff. The intent behind Plan B was to kill. Plan C: when the first two plans didn't work, beat her with the rock, knock her out, drag her over, or simply kill her outright.

"The intent behind every single plan was to kill Arielle. Every plan, every backup plan, ends in Arielle's death," he said.

Maui anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig is charged with the second-degree attempted murder of his wife, Arielle Konig on March 24. Prosecutors accuse him of attempting to push her off a cliff on Oahu's Pali Puka Trail, trying to inject her with a syringe and beating her repeatedly in the head with a rock.

If convicted, he faces life in prison with the possibility of parole. The 47-year-old physician maintained throughout the three-weeklong trial the confrontation was an unplanned physical struggle that ended in self-defense.

Garner pointed to what he described as a web of corroboration, including physical evidence, digital records and witness testimony, all reinforcing Arielle Konig's account.

"Every single sample that tested positive for human blood had a likelihood ratio of over one trillion for Arielle Konig," he said. "The blood on the rock, the blood from the samples taken at the trail, the blood all over the defendant's shirt and shorts, every single one."

Garner also highlighted Konig's computer search history in the months leading up to the hike, including searches about infidelity, divorce costs, Arielle Konig's finances and difficult Oahu hiking trails.

"He was only interested in difficult hikes," Garner said. "Steep trails, big drops, narrow trails. He knew that this trail was not popular. He knew that 99% of people would not be going on this trail. He knew that this is where he could execute his plan."

Garner reminded jurors of testimony from two nurses, Amanda Morris and Sara Buchsbaum, who said they heard Arielle Konig screaming for help, then saw Konig standing over her with a rock.

According to Garner, their arrival was the only thing that stopped the attack.

"Arielle screaming for help did not stop him. Arielle fighting back for her life did not stop him. The only thing that stopped the defendant was two eyewitnesses coming upon the scene and seeing him beat her with that rock. The only thing that got him to stop was being caught red-handed," he said.

Garner then turned to what he called the most critical evidence, a FaceTime call Konig placed to his adult son, Emile Konig from his first marriage, minutes after the attack.

"At 10:42 a.m., just minutes after this happened, the defendant called Emile on FaceTime. Not a phone call. A video call. So Emile could see," Garner said. "The defendant confessed to Emile. He told Emile that he tried to kill Arielle. He told Emile why. He told Emile that Arielle got away."

He also challenged Konig's own testimony, where he claimed that he only hit his wife twice in self-defense.

"The defendant's story is that somehow Arielle, on her birthday, on an unfamiliar hike next to a massive cliff, decided to start an argument," Garner said. "Does that make sense to you?"

But defense attorney Thomas Otake, of Honolulu-based firm Alapa Otake, argued that investigators built a theory first, then fit the evidence to it. Otake challenged the claim of premeditation, pointing to what he described as contradictions.

He asked the jury why a man planning to kill his wife would purchase $1.5 million in life insurance weeks earlier, or why he would write a heartfelt birthday card that same morning, make dinner reservations or choose a trail near a busy parking lot.

He read from the card: "There isn't an obstacle in this world too hard for me to fight through. For you, I would take on anything just to see your smile."

"You write a letter like this two hours before you plan to kill somebody?" Otake said. "There was no plan. There was no plan."

He questioned the prosecution's sequence of events involving the syringe.

"You would use the syringe first, and then throw them off. You wouldn't start a scuffle and then go, 'Oh wait, now I'm gonna stab her with the syringe,'" he said.

On DNA, Otake offered a competing interpretation.

"The rock was in her hand," he said. "1 trillion to 290. The rock was in her hand. The DNA shows that. That blows away her whole story that she didn't have the rock."

He rejected the Emile Konig's characterization of the FaceTime call as a confession, saying that the son misunderstood what Gerhardt Konig was telling him. 

"Two highly emotional participants in a phone call. One is suicidal. One is thinking his life is over," Otake said.

Otake also attacked Arielle Konig's credibility, pointing to her description of her relationship with coworker Jeffrey Miller as flirtatious text messages, despite evidence of late-night messages, a shared code word for her husband and her listening to an audiobook titled "How to Help My Spouse Heal from My Affair."

He cited an email she sent to her doctor requesting a traumatic brain injury diagnosis that did not appear in hospital records.

Paraphrasing Mark Twain, Otake told jurors: "You ought to be very careful about lying, because once caught, you can never again be in the eyes of the good and the pure what you were before."

Konig has pleaded not guilty and has remained in custody at the Oahu Community Correctional Center since his March 28 indictment.

Source: Courthouse News Service