A mental fitness hearing for Tittleman Fauatea, accused of murder, has been delayed until next month.

The hearing was reset yesterday to Jan. 13, when a mental health expert who found Fauatea unfit for trial will be available to testify.

Fauatea, 25, is accused of fatally stabbing Wai'anae High School teacher Asa Yamashita, 43, as she sat on a bench eating a snack at Ewa Town Center on Feb. 27.

Two of three experts who examined Fauatea said he is mentally able to stand trial for the crime.

One of them, Dr. Stephen Gainsley, said in a report to the court that Fauatea may have been trying to kill a barber who worked at the center and who physically resembled Yamashita.

Fauatea "appeared to have developed a preoccupation with the female barber, was rejected by her on several occasions and developed a plan of revenge," Gainsley wrote in his report.

"That's just an opinion that's been fabricated by the doctor," Fauatea's lawyer, Dean Young, said yesterday.

Young said he believes the barber "had nothing to do with" what happened.

Fauatea "is severely disabled, mentally disabled" and had not been taking medication at the time of the attack.

"He was hearing things, seeing things that were not related to anybody else, just really random," Young said.

Gainsley and another doctor said they believe Fauatea is competent to stand trial.

A third doctor, Dr. Martin Blinder, said Fauatea is unfit for trial.

Blinder was vacationing in California yesterday and, at Young's request, Circuit Judge Richard Perkins delayed the fitness hearing to next month when Blinder can testify.

Fauatea's mother and sister attended the hearing but left without comment.

"At this point the family is concerned about Mr. Fauatea," Young said.

"They really want to meet the (Yamashita) family and talk to them, but it's just not the right time for that to happen," Young said.

The mental health reports filed with the court state that Fauatea is mentally ill, but the experts disagree about the severity of his illness.

The reports said that Fauatea has a lengthy history of hospitalizations for mental health care, as well as a series of previous brushes with the law for minor criminal offenses.

He was charged with misdemeanor harassment and trespassing charges last year, and was sent in August 2008 to the Hawai'i State Hospital in Käne'ohe for treatment and evaluation.

"Upon admission he was overtly psychotic," according to Gainsley's report.

While in the hospital, Fauatea "had several displays of violence and aggression, including punching three other patients without provocation," the report said.

"He also demonstrated sexually inappropriate behavior, in which he would make inappropriate gestures, stare at female staff and touch himself inappropriately," the Gainsley report said.

In September 2008, Fauatea was deemed mentally unfit to proceed on the misdemeanor charges, but on Nov. 26, he was found fit "and pled guilty to the harassment charge, received a sentence of six days in jail, which he served in O'ahu Community Correctional Center, and then was released," Gainsley's report said.

An October 2008 psychiatric evaluation of Fauatea, written while he was at the hospital, said Fauatea's "probability of dangerous behaviors increases to moderate or high if he is not under the current level of supervision."

A December evaluation questioned Fauatea's progress, according to court records.

"His ability to maintain his level of recovery is questionable," the report said.

After Fauatea was released from the hospital and from jail, he received outpatient mental health treatment from Care Hawaii Inc., according to Gainsley's report.

Fauatea's case manager there told Gainsley that from Nov. 26, 2008, to Feb. 27, 2009, Fauatea "did exhibit apparent psychotic behavior such as disorganized speech and bizarre statements."

Fauatea was not suspected of taking illegal drugs during that period, but he "also did not consistently take his medications because it made him sluggish," according to Gainsley's report.