Lawyer for Monsey Stabbing Suspect Grafton Thomas Seeks Competency Hearing
His lawyer said an expert concluded that Thomas, accused of stabbing five Hasidic Jewish men at a rabbi’s home last month, is not mentally fit to stand trial.
Kena Betancur/Getty
The lawyer for Grafton Thomas on Monday filed a motion seeking a competency hearing on whether his client is mentally fit to stand trial on federal hate crime charges. Thomas is charged in the anti-Semitic machete attack last month at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York. His lawyer, Michael Sussman, wrote in a press advisory that he submitted a report by a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Andrew Levin, who concluded that Thomas is not mentally fit to stand trial. Earlier this month, Thomas, 37, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on a 10-count indictment accusing him of stabbing five Hasidic Jewish men on Dec. 28 while trying to murder them based on their religion and thus obstructing the free exercise of religion. Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg was reportedly hosting a celebration at his home on the seventh night of Hanukkah when the attack took place. Sussman previously said that Thomas could not fully understand the charges against him, citing his history of mental illness.
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