Accused In Machete Attack Not Competent To Stand Trial: Lawyer

GOSHEN, NY — The attorney for Grafton Thomas, the Orange County man accused of attacking Hannukah celebrants with a machete, has filed a motion in federal court requesting a competency hearing for his client.

Michael Sussman said he submitted a report from a psychiatrist, Dr. Andrew Levin, that concluded his client was not now competent to stand trial.

Thomas has a record of mental health issues. He said he was hearing voices in December, Sussman has told the press.

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.

Federal prosecutors allege that about 100 people were at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in Rockland County Dec. 28 when Thomas entered, slashed four people, then fled. A fifth person was injured in the melee.

Thomas was arrested in New York City that night. Police said he was covered in blood and smelled of bleach and that a machete and knife were in the van. He was arraigned Sunday in Ramapo and held on $5 million bail. He faces local attempted murder charges and federal hate-crime charges.

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.

Sussman detailed an incident in September 2018 that got Thomas arrested and diagnosed with mental illness. Thomas showed signs of mental deterioration so his mother called EMS for help. The neighbor from whose house she called called 911. Thomas was cutting up a chicken at the time and didn't put it down when asked by the responding officer and he was arrested. A hospital recorded a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and released him back to police. The case was let lapse when he had no more incidents before December. Sussman said in December that no one followed up on the diagnosis.

SEE:

• No Signs Of Anti-Semitism In Thomas's Wurtsboro Cabin
• Family: Hanukkah Stabbing Suspect Had Mental Illness History