Man punches his lawyer in court melee after being found not guilty of murder at trial
A 31-year-old man initially thought he would be freed on Wednesday after winning a verdict in a murder trial of not guilty by reason of insanity, although he was determined to have committed manslaughter.
When his lawyer told him he was headed to the hospital following the Manhattan jury verdict, however, Alejandro Morales began punching defense counsel Frederick Sosinsky and swinging wildly at court officers, witnesses told the New York Times (reg. req.). Some two dozen court officers responded and took Morales down in the jury box.
“He’s a very disturbed and volatile man, and we saw stark evidence of that, unfortunately,” said Sosinsky, who was not seriously injured and does not intend to press charges.
Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Morales had reportedly confessed that he stabbed his 9-year-old cousin to death in 2010 in his mother’s apartment. However, Sosinsky called as a witness a forensic psychiatrist who presented evidence about Morales’ extensive history of treatment for mental illness and documented record of delusions.
The New York Post also has a story.
