California to extradite escaped Hawaii psychiatric patient

HONOLULU – A man who escaped from a Hawaii psychiatric hospital and flew to California will be sent back to the islands.

The Hawaii attorney general’s office said Friday the state of California issued a warrant authorizing Randall Saito’s extradition.

The attorney general’s office says it’s arranged with the U.S. Marshal’s Service to have Saito return on a non-commercial flight.

San Joaquin County Judge Michael Mulvihill scheduled a Jan. 5 hearing to discuss the extradition.

Saito has been a Hawaii State Hospital patient for nearly four decades since being found not guilty by reason of insanity of a woman’s murder.

He walked out of the hospital on Nov. 12 and took a taxi to the airport. Police arrested him in the California city of Stockton three days later.