On June 7, Mark Davis Jr. was committed to the Hawai'i State Hospital after he was acquitted by reason of insanity in the rape and murder of a 6-year-old Big Island girl in 2001.

But within two months, Davis, 18, climbed onto a roof, jumped onto a grassy area outside the hospital and escaped, police say.

He was caught two hours later on the afternoon of July 31, about three miles from the hospital at a canal in front a shopping center near Temple Valley.

Davis is now awaiting trial on the escape charge, which carries up to five years in prison, and both prosecutors and his defense lawyer say Davis may very well be recommitted to the Kane'ohe mental health facility.

Prosecutors say the case represents a predicament facing the state's judicial system: how to house mentally ill defendants who present a danger to others when the one facility available isn't designed to ensure patients don't escape.

"It wasn't meant to lock people up," city Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Takata said.

Davis' lawyer will try to raise the insanity defense, which is likely to be granted given that he already has been acquitted for the same reason and his history of mental problems. His return to the hospital would soon follow.

"It's pretty much spinning your wheels," said state Public Defender Jack Tonaki, whose office represents Davis. "They're looking at the same results. It's just kinda of a circular thing."

Takata said his office is compelled to prosecute Davis, given his violent history and his attempt to run away from the institution.

"I think we would be remiss in not prosecuting the case," Takata said.

Under state law, defendants who commit crimes are not held criminally responsible if they suffer from a mental disorder that substantially impairs their ability to know right from wrong or their ability to act in accordance with the law. If they are considered dangerous, they are committed to the hospital until they are no longer dangerous or no longer suffering from the disorder.

Takata said the reasoning is that if a defendant falls under the state's definition of insanity, punishment won't serve any purpose. At the same time, the hospital is in a "quandary" because it is designed for treatment and is not a secured, he said.

Takata suggests one solution is to develop secured psychiatric facilities.

Janice Okubo, Department of Health spokeswoman said they could not comment on Davis' case.

Hospital officials, however, said the number of escapes from the facility has declined from several years ago. The reasons include improvements such as electronically locked doors, a facility-wide camera surveillance system and a more refined system of granting privileges. The hospital is currently housing about 170 patients, though the number fluctuates.

Davis is believed to be the youngest person in Hawai'i to be charged with rape and murder.

When he was 14, he was accused of murder and first-degree sexual assault of Kau'ilani Tadeo, a first-grade student at Keonepoko Elementary School whose body was found at a vacant house near her family's home in the Puna subdivision of Hawaiian Beaches. She died from a blow to the head.

Davis, then a seventh-grade special education student who lived nearby, was arrested several days later. After he was arrested his parents, Mark Davis Sr. and Ellen Davis, said tests showed their boy had an IQ of 45 with the mental faculties of a 5-year-old boy.

When Davis was committed to the state hospital on June 7, Big Island prosecutors said he admitted that the investigation proved he sexually assaulted and killed the victim. The defense lawyer agreed Davis was dangerous, warranting the hospital commitment that the prosecutors said could be for the rest of his life.

According to a police affidavit filed in support of the escape charge, Davis escaped because he was upset that he was denied the use of a gym after he entered another patient's room in violation of hospital rules.

Davis became "very angry" and asked for time in a courtyard to calm down, the affidavit said. He then climbed a stairway railing next to the courtyard fence, went onto a roof of a building, leaped and fled, the document said.

After his arrest, Davis told a hospital official he needed "time away," the affidavit said.

Reports of Davis' escape angered Kau'ilani's parents.

"We were mad," Tumata Tadeo said in a recent telephone interview. "I couldn't believe it was true."

Tumata, 29, said she was pregnant when her daughter was killed, which resulted in a miscarriage. She and her husband, George, wanted another girl, but had two more boys and now have four boys, ages 1 to 9.

"We have to keep going," she said. "We have to learn to live with it. We have to learn about how to live without our daughter."

Still, she wonders how Davis could escape from the hospital and believes he should be in jail.

Currently, Davis is being held at O'ahu Community Correctional Center on $500,000 bail pending the outcome of the criminal case. His lawyer is asking the court to appoint three mental health experts to evaluate whether Davis is mentally competent to stand trial, a prelude to clear the way for asking for an acquittal based on his mental disorders.

The trial is scheduled for Oct. 24, but will probably be postponed while Davis undergoes mental evaluations.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.