A state judge will rule next Friday on whether the prosecution can use notes, books and other materials recovered from Adam Mau-Goffredo's home in the triple murder case against him.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario yesterday heard legal arguments by Mau-Goffredo's lawyers to suppress the items recovered from the 10th Avenue home.

The search was conducted four days after he was arrested in connection with the shooting murders of a taxi driver and a Kapahulu couple at the Tantalus lookout the evening of July 6 last year.

Police obtained the search warrant by citing notebooks found with Mau-Goffredo when he was arrested later that night as a basis to search the home. The calligraphic handwritten notes indicated Mau-Goffredo planned the murder of the cab driver, police have said.

The warrant authorized police to search for materials including records, documents, VHS tapes and DVDs that tend to show Mau-Goffredo had planned the crimes. It also authorized police to seize items related to his mental condition.

Mau-Goffredo had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

Mau-Goffredo's lawyer, Brook Hart, argued that the search warrant was so overly broad that it allowed police to rummage through his client's property in violation of Mau's constitutional rights. Hart said the murder weapon was found with Mau-Goffredo when he was arrested and there was no specification that more evidence might be recovered in a search of the home.

But city Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Takata said there were "reasonable inferences" that Mau-Goffredo had evidence related to the crimes at his home. Mau-Goffredo did not have a job and lived at the residence for two years, which would indicate he kept incriminating items at his house, the deputy prosecutor said.

It's not clear how critical the evidence gathered at the home will be to the prosecution's case. The defense is not challenging the recovery of the gun or the handwritten notes found in the stolen car that Mau-Goffredo was driving when he was arrested.

But if the defense request is granted, Mau-Goffredo's attorneys may also ask that the materials from the home be kept from mental-health experts who will evaluate whether Mau-Goffredo is competent to stand trial and whether he was legally insane.

The panel is expected to be appointed after the suppression issue is resolved.

No trial date has been set for Mau-Goffredo, who remains in custody at Halawa prison.

He also is accused of the armed robbery of a Round Top Drive home shortly after the shooting murders of cab driver Manh Nguyen and bystanders Jason and Colleen Takamori of Kapahulu.

The charges against Mau-Goffredo include first-degree murder, robbery, firearm violations and theft.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.