A mentally ill man accused of murdering a psychologist in her Upper East Side office in 2008 is to face trial next year, after his lawyers said Wednesday that they would not challenge a finding that he is mentally fit. A 2010 attempt to try the man, David Tarloff, ended in a mistrial after he became psychotic during jury selection.
Assessments of Mr. Tarloff, 44, have varied since he was charged with fatally stabbing Kathryn Faughey on Feb. 12, 2008.
But state psychiatrists determined in June that he was mentally healthy enough to participate in his own defense. On Wednesday, after his lawyers said they would not challenge the finding, Justice Edward J. McLaughlin of State Supreme Court in Manhattan scheduled Mr. Tarloff's trial for Jan. 7, 2013.
As he has done repeatedly over the years, Mr. Tarloff interrupted the hearing with occasional outbursts, suggesting that the district att orney's office would not prosecute him if they knew his true history.
“Since I was 20 I've been having hallucinations about God and the devil,†he blurted out.
One of his lawyers, Bryan Konoski, told the judge that Mr. Tarloff had deteriorated since he was transferred from Bellevue Hospital Center to Rikers Island in June. Evan Krutoy, the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, told Justice McLaughlin that he would work to see Mr. Tarloff returned to the hospital.
Mr. Tarloff's legal team plans to pursue a defense that he was not guilty by reason of insanity, which they said would result in him being held, probably for the rest of his life, in a psychiatric facility instead of a prison.
Two of Dr. Faughey's brothers, Michael and Owen Faughey, attended the hearing. They said later that they hoped Mr. Tarloff would be returned to Bellevue so that he received enough medical attention to be ready for trial.
“We just want to make sur e that he stays fit and stands trial and we can get this behind us once and for all,†Michael Faughey said.
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