'He needs a serious psychiatric evaluation' - says lawyer of man accused of Hanukkah stabbing spree
Record ID:
1450758
'He needs a serious psychiatric evaluation' - says lawyer of man accused of Hanukkah stabbing spree
- Title: 'He needs a serious psychiatric evaluation' - says lawyer of man accused of Hanukkah stabbing spree
- Date: 30th December 2019
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 30, 2019) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS PAGES FROM FEDERAL COURT DOCUMENT CHARGING THOMAS WITH FIVE COUNTS
- Embargoed: 13th January 2020 21:21
- Keywords: Al Sharpton Grafton Thomas Hasidic rabbi Michael Sussman New York hate crime stabbing
- Location: GOSHEN, NEW YORK CITY, RAMAPO, MONSEY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: GOSHEN, NEW YORK CITY, RAMAPO, MONSEY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA002BC64N5Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The lawyer for a man accused of going on a stabbing rampage during a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi's home north of New York City said he client has "severe psychiatric issues."
Federal prosecutors on Monday (December 30) filed hate crime charges against Grafton Thomas. Thomas was arraigned on five counts of attempted murder in a state court on Sunday.
Thomas is accused of stabbing five people on Saturday night with what the criminal complaint described as a "machete" after bursting into a Hanukkah celebration that included dozens of people at Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's home in Rockland County, about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City.
During a news conference shortly after the federal hate crime charges were filed, Thomas' lawyer Michael Sussman said, "My impression from speaking with him is that he needs a serious psychiatric evaluation."
"I don't know whether those who are making these charges have spent a moment speaking to him or relating to him. But my impression from what I have read in my conversation with him is there are severe psychiatric issues. Whether those manifested in anti-Semitism at a moment, I can't tell you. I don't know. That's not what I heard when I spoke with him," Sussman added.
Handwritten journals confiscated from the suspect's Greenwood Lake, New York, home contained anti-Semitic sentiments including "referring to 'Adolf Hitler' and 'Nazi culture'" as well as a drawing of a swastika, FBI agent Julie Brown said in the complaint. She said his cell phone was used to search "Why did Hitler hate the Jews" on Nov. 9, Dec. 3, Dec. 7 and Dec. 16.
Sussman said, "There seems to be an alternative universe, looking at his writings and, and, talking with him."
Authorities did not release the names of the victims. Four of the five victims of the attack were released after being treated at a local hospital while one was still hospitalized with a skull fracture, the New York Times quoted officials as saying.
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