ICYMI: Judge Rules Thomas Gilbert Mentally Competent to Stand Trial

In case you missed it, here’s a story that appeared last week in Southampton Patch:

Thomas Gilbert Jr., a wealthy managing partner of Wainscott Capital Partners suspected killing his father and starting a Sagaponack house fire, was ruled mentally competent to stand trial by a Supreme Court judge earlier this week.

On January 5, 30-year-old Gilbert was arrested and charged with homicide and criminal possession of a weapon after his father, 70-year-old Thomas Gilbert Sr., a part-time Beach Lane resident, was found shot to death at his Manhattan apartment the day before.

On September 15, a 17th century home on Sagaponack Village’s Historic District at 850 Sagg Main Street was destroyed in a fire which police declared suspicious after a gas can and rags soaked in gasoline were found a few yards from the home.

Police declared Gilbert a ‘person of interest’ after they found he was connected to the fire after his arrest in January.

Gilbert’s attorney, Alexander Spiro, of Brafman and Associates, has stated that Gilbert is unfit for trial since he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, but in court on Monday, Justice Melissa Jackson disagreed.

“The defendant’s psychiatric history is irrelevant to the issue at hand; it is the defendant’s current psychological condition that is relevant,” Jackson wrote in her decision, according to The East Hampton Star.

Jackson also claims that during Gilbert’s court appearances since January, he has been “articulate,” as well as had a “polite demeanor and rational behavior,” 27east reports.

Spiro disagrees with Jackson’s ruling.

“The bar for fitness to stand to trial is so low that no matter how mentally ill a person is, we too often force them into courtrooms,” he said according to 27east. “At some point, we all have to consider whether we need to treat more people in hospitals rather than locking them in prisons.”

Gilbert’s next court date is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2016.