Suspect In Fatal Stabbing Of Nurse Pleads Not Guilty
The judge ordered Tommy Carvalho to continue to be held without bail because he poses a “serious risk of danger to the community.”
Tommy Carvalho pleaded not guilty Monday to a second-degree murder charge in connection with the killing of a 29-year-old nurse at the Hawaii State Hospital last week.
Carvalho, 25, appeared via Zoom from the Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he has been held without bail since his arrest on Nov. 13.
A grand jury indicted Carvalho two days later.
Edward Aquino from the Hawaii Public Defender’s Office is representing Carvalho. Aquino did not respond to a request for comment.
Carvalho did not speak during the arraignment but stood quietly next to Aquino in a dark green prison uniform.
Judge Ronald Johnson said Carvalho will continue to be held without bail because he poses a “serious risk of danger to the community” as well as a flight risk. His trial was scheduled for Jan. 22.
Carvalho is accused of fatally stabbing Justin Bautista, a licensed practical nurse who was working in a transitional housing program on the hospital grounds where Carvalho was living. Carvalho was discharged from Hawaii State Hospital and placed in the transitional housing program in August. He had been committed to the hospital four times previously.
He was accused of attacking a state hospital employee while he was a patient there in 2020 and pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in 2022.
