The lawyer for the suspect in the stabbing during a Chanukah party in Monsey has requested a federal competency evaluation.
Attorney Michael Sussman says a psychiatrist concluded that Grafton Thomas is not competent to stand trial.
Now the U.S. Attorney’s office has two weeks to respond.
Thomas has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges in the Dec. 28th stabbing that left five people injured at Rabbi Rottenberg’s home in Forshay.
The 37-year-old also faces federal hate crime charges.
Sussman issued a statement to reporters saying that he had asked the federal court, where Thomas faces hate-crime charges, to keep his motion, Levin’s report, and other documents under seal, to retain the privacy of personal health matters.
“Pending the court’s determination on my motion, I shall have no further comment on these matters,” Sussman wrote.
Sussman told the media in December that a search of Thomas’s homes in Wurstboro, where he lived for two years before moving back to his mother’s home in Greenwood Lake, uncovered many signs of deep mental illness including bottles full of prescription psychotropic drugs that he had not taken. Sussman said Thomas stopped taking the antipsychotic medication Latuda in October.
“We have someone who has a discernable, longstanding pattern of mental illness, a mother who’s an RN who’s calling repeatedly for assistance,” he said in December, saying the system had repeatedly failed. Thomas has a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations, but no history of violence and no convictions.
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8 Responses
of course he is nuts who else would do such a crime to people you dont even know , does it really make a diff if he is in a psych jail for life or some prison either way it will cost the gov millions – ofcourse the death would be better for us and for him – yesh din vyesh dayan
Yet he was licensed to operate a motor vehicle. Cut his wretched head off. He’s not fit to understand that his life should also end. In fact put him out of his misery.
I suggest that this pervert savagely attack Attorney Michael Sussman and his children, and then let Attorney Michael Sussman reevaluate his views on this pervert being considered mentally incompetent to stand trial.
They learned this tactic from the evil French.
He was competent enough to drive 2 ways to Monsey and back, seek out an obscure house — not a shul — and not near wherever he lives, and hack away only at Jews — not anyone else.
But he’s incompetent to stand trial.
Right.
Welcome to France.
Mental or not. He’s too dangerous to roam free in society. Lock him up and throw away the key.
Let’s also not forget that he was competent enough to know to flee a crime scene to evade capture.
Vile threats against a court-appointed attorney or a psychologist who provides his clinical opinion on the mental status of the attacker really show maturity and reflect really positively on the poster. They are both doing what the our legal system mandates and they are professionally and ethically obligated to do. The prosecution will now offer their own experts showing that there was no mental impairment and he should stand trial. Its up to the trial court to determine whether he was or wasn’t legally responsible for his actions. If you don’t like the system, vote for candidates who will change the state and federal rules of criminal procedure and pre-trial motions.