Lakewood, NJ – Defense attorneys are seeking to have a 38-year-old Lakewood man declared incompetent to stand trial on charges that he attempted to murder a rabbi in a baseball-bat attack in Lakewood in 2007.
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Attorneys Glenn Kassman and Kevin Young are seeking to have Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson declare Lee Tucker of Ventura Drive incompetent to stand trial on charges of attempted murder and weapons possession.
In a hearing before Hodgson Dr. Daniel Greenfield, a psychiatrist, testified that Tucker is incompetent due to a long history of psychiatric commitments dating to 1996 for serious disorders that include schizophrenia.
Another psychiatrist, Dr. Timothy Michals, testified for the state that Tucker is competent to stand trial and faked mental illness during an exam.
The hearing is scheduled to continue on May 28.
Tucker is accused in the baseball bat attack on Rabbi Mordechai Moskowitz in Lakewood on Oct. 9, 2007, (as was reported at that time here on VIN News). Moskowitz, then 53 and a third-grade teacher at Lakewood Cheder School, was severely beaten while he was walking to synagogue to pray.
Tucker was arrested on Oct. 24, 2007, a day after he was released from a stay at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Winslow.
The assault received widespread attention, including a news conference to announce a $25,000 reward for information posted by the Anti-Defamation League and the Vaad, Lakewood’s council of Jewish Orthodox leaders.
Under New Jersey law, there is a reasonable liklihood he will be able to get off with this version of an insanity plea (he cannot understand the charges against him and is unable to assist in his defense. This would be a really sad outcome for the yiddeshe community in Lakewood.
it is unclear if he checked into this pysiciatic place before the attack or after- as a poor tactic
If he is not sane enough to stand trial- then he can not walk the streets freely. He needs to be put in a psych ward under watch. Why should he walk free. He was sane enough to see that the man he was beating was not a fellow African American but a Jewish Rabbi.
Any violent attacker is insaine. Ain odom chota ela im kain nichnas bo ruach shtus. How sain are those that allow him freedom.
I am not defending what this guy did and my family are personal friends of the Moskowitz’s. That being said the mental health care in New Jersey is real bad. From some one working with the system I know that they are not able to handle all the cases they get and some times people are let go early. From what I remember (from the reports) he was in the facility before he attacked Rabbi Moskowitz. Either way he should not get away free for what he did. Maybe the state should help out a bit more with the mentally ill.
he was just looking for a baseball game???yeah right
BS”D
I’m a Chabadnick from Crown Heights and am VERY SORRY AND SAD to hear about the beating of Rabbi Mordechai Moskowitz.
Seems to me, if two psychiartists are divided on the ‘rasha’s’ competence they certainly should examine him again more thoroughly. Certainly there are techniques which, when secretly used, won’t let the attacker know he’s being observed and tested.
If there’s a law against this, it might appear that the courts-government are more concerned with individual ‘rights’ than public safety. Certainly a prime example of a ‘galus mentality.’
I’m no expert in this area, but certainly the public safety depends on it.