Kathryn Faughey Murder Case
Man ruled unfit for trial in NYC therapist slaying
Original Post Date: 10th Nov, 2010 - 12:47am
Do you think he is truly unfit to stand trial or do you think this was carefully planned?
A schizophrenic accused of murdering a psychotherapist with a meat cleaver was ruled mentally unfit Tuesday for trial, indefinitely delaying a trial that came close to starting but has long been rocked by uncertainty about his mental state. FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2008 file photo, David Tarloff, 39, charged with murdering a New York City therapist with a meat cleaver in 2008, is walked out of the 19th Precinct in New York. The long-in-limbo murder trial of Tarloff was poised to start last month until new questions arose about his mental fitness. Now a court may decide Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010 whether Tarloff can stand trial now or needs more treatment before he's stable enough _ if ever. (AP Photo/Andy Kropa, File) AP The decision means David Tarloff will be sent to a state hospital for treatment until doctors find he has improved enough to stand trial _ if they ever do. He has varied between findings of fitness and incompetence since his 2008 arrest in Kathryn Faughey's death in her Manhattan office. The ruling came after two psychiatrists found Tarloff incompetent for trial, and a prosecutor said he refused to cooperate with a third exam, leaving that doctor unable to reach a conclusion about his fitness and prosecutors unable to challenge it. "Consequently, I have to commit Mr. Tarloff," state Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin said. "There is little doubt that ... Mr. Tarloff has had documentable periods of unfitness." Tarloff, 42, is accused of killing Faughey as part of a peculiar robbery plot targeting her office mate. Tarloff has planned an insanity defense, which involves different standards than mental competence for trial…
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