Gerhardt Konig, left, talks to his defense lawyer Thomas Otake after closing arguments in his attempted murder trial in a courtroom, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin, Pool)

Jurors in Oahu deliberated for more than eight hours before finding a Maui anesthesiologist guilty of trying to kill his wife during a cliffside hike last year.

The jury began deliberations after hearing closing arguments Tuesday in the three-week trial of Gerhardt Konig, 47, and returned with the verdict on Wednesday.

He had been charged with attempted murder but was convicted on the lesser charge of attempted manslaughter based on extreme mental or emotional disturbance. It carries up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for July 16.

During closing arguments, deputy prosecutor Joel Garner said the defendant had a plan and backup plans for murdering his wife, Arielle Konig, during a weekend trip to Honolulu for her birthday in March 2025. The narrow trail, which is closed to the public, is known for its scenic views of east Honolulu and steep cliffs.

When pushing his wife off a cliff didn’t work, Gerhardt Konig tried to stab her with a syringe filled with an unknown substance. And when that didn’t work, he grabbed a rock, Garner said.

“Every backup plan ends in Arielle’s death,” Garner told the jury, displaying the rock and photos of her injuries.

The doctor’s lawyer told jurors Tuesday there were no such plans, and he repeatedly sought to cast doubt on Arielle Konig’s account. Gerhardt Konig has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. He insisted he was defending himself from his wife, who he said attacked him with the rock first.

“She said, ‘Let’s take a selfie by the cliff’s edge,'” Gerhardt Konig said. “I felt a shove, and I was almost pushed over the edge.”

If Gerhardt Konig had wanted to kill his wife and had access to a syringe in a remote area, defense attorney Thomas Otake suggested, wouldn’t he have drugged her and then thrown her from the cliff, rather than having started a scuffle before attempting to fill the syringe as he was wrestling with her?

“You would use the syringe first,” Otake said. “It makes no sense.”

The trial started last month, nearly a year after Gerhardt and Arielle Konig went on a hike on the Pali Puka trail in Honolulu that ended with her bloodied and screaming that he had tried to kill her.

Their two young sons stayed home on Maui while the Konigs were on the trip. Near a lookout offering sweeping views, Gerhardt Konig — upset about his wife’s relationship with a coworker — attacked her, Garner said. It was only because two other hikers interrupted the assault that he stopped, Garner said.

The trial, with testimony livestreamed by Court TV, has aired the couple’s marital problems leading up to the hike, along with their versions of what happened on the trail.

Gerhardt Konig testified that his wife was having an affair, which he confirmed by unlocking her phone while she slept. The relationship, which Arielle Konig characterized as an “emotional affair” involving flirty messages with a coworker, came up during the hike.

Gerhardt Konig said the argument stemmed from his wife wanting to go on another business trip with the employee with her mother as a chaperone.

However, Arielle Konig testified that her husband grabbed her and tried to push her toward the cliff’s edge, but she threw herself on the ground and held on tight. She said he straddled her and had a syringe in his hand, but she batted it away. She bit his forearm and squeezed his testicles in an attempt to get him off her, she said.

Previously, Amanda Morris testified that she and her friend Sarah Buchsbaum were hiking the trail when they heard a woman call out for help. Morris said she then saw Gerhardt Konig on top of his wife who was lying on her back on the ground.

“He was hitting her with a rock,” Morris said. “She was saying, ‘Help me. Help me. He’s trying to kill me.'”

Morris said the attack stopped after Gerhardt saw her and Buchsbaum. “He stopped and stood up,” Morris said.

Morris and Buchsbaum then called 911. Morris recalled Arielle Konig, who was bleeding from her head, pleading for them not to leave her. Morris said Arielle was unable to walk, so she scooted on her bottom down the hiking trail with them.

Her husband denied pushing her toward the edge and testified that she hit him with a rock on the side of his face. He wrestled the rock away and hit her with it twice in self-defense, he said.

“He reacted, and then he felt horrible about it,” Otake said. “He never wanted to hurt her.”

But the prosecutor told the jury that all of the blood found on the rock and on clothing belonged to Arielle Konig, not her husband.

Gerhardt Konig also denied having any syringes on the mountain, or trying to stab his wife. His defense attorney said no syringe was found at the scene because he never had one.

Otake said Gerhardt Konig was not someone who would try to commit murder, but someone who was struggling with infidelity and trying to do his best. Otake quoted from a heart-shaped birthday card Gerhardt Konig had written to his wife, calling her “the heart of our family” and saying, “The kids and I hit the jackpot with you.”

Gerhardt Konig testified that as he watched his wife crawl away, he believed his marriage and career were over, and he decided to jump to his death. But first, he called his adult son from a previous marriage. The son told authorities that his father said he “tried to kill your stepmom” — a confession Gerhardt Konig denied having made.

During that call, the defendant made no reference to having struck his wife in self-defense, Garner said.

He spent about eight hours hiding on the mountain before deciding to come down, and even then he tried to flee when confronted by police, Garner said.

Arielle Konig was treated at a hospital for complex scalp lacerations and a distal fracture of her thumb. She has since filed for divorce.