CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A judge has rejected a request to allow a Sharpe Hospital patient back into the community with supervision after he was sentenced last year for murdering his parents in 2020.
Takanao Kambara, 28, appeared virtually before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Dave Hardy Wednesday where defense attorney Ronni Sheets asked the judge to consider allowing Kambara to take trips outside the hospital alongside two hospital staff members who are trained in de-escalation tactics.
Hardy said the motion was “premature” given the lack of time he’s served at Sharpe and because there are currently not enough safety protocols in place.
“If Mr. Kambara decides to get out of the car and leave, run or ride away, it will be very difficult for parties who are not allowed to restrain him to catch him and there’s nothing to stop him from doing that,” Hardy said.
Kambara was sentenced to life at the hospital back in Oct. 2023 for the New Year’s Eve 2020 beating deaths of his parents Tsukasa and Claudette Kambara. The couple was found dead in their bed in their Loudendale home near Kanawha State Forest.
Kambara could still pose a threat to the community if he was allowed outside hospital grounds because no one at Sharpe has the legal authority to restrain him, Hardy said.
“It would be very easy for him to walk away rapidly,” he said. “Before we cross the bridge of him being outside the protected zone that he’s in, which he seems to be doing very well in, I think that issue has to be addressed.”
Statewide Forensic Clinical Director Dr. Colleen Lillard testified virtually Tuesday and said Kambara has shown improvement since he was found criminally responsible in June 2023; however, he still needs to stay medicated.
“The difference now is that Mr. Kambara has been adequately treated. He is psychiatrically and behaviorally stable and has been for a significant amount of time,” Lillard said.
The motion would’ve allowed Kambara to first take a trip to a nearby lake while remaining in the car with two staff members. After that, he would be allowed to go through a drive-thru restaurant in the car and then take trips to stores and restaurants outside the car with supervision.
Sheets said there are some challenges with Hardy’s request for Sharpe to implement more safety measures because hospital staff are not law enforcement officers.
“Law enforcement is not going to accompany them in that this person is not in a correctional setting. He is a patient in a hospital much as you and I would be if we had a medical problem,” Sheets said.
Prosecutors previously said it’s unlikely Kambara could ever be controlled outside a hospital setting.