A man who beat his mother to death after he apparently had an epileptic seizure was allowed on Monday to plead not guilty by reason of mental disease and be committed for treatment.
Prosecutors have enough evidence to prove Henry Wachtel killed his mother in 2012, said Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Stuart Silberg. But medical experts have concluded he was "not criminally responsible for his conduct," he said.
Wachtel, 21, told a judge, "I have no memory of the events immediately surrounding the death of my mother." At the same time, based on the evidence and conversations with his lawyer, "I am convinced that I physically caused my mother's death," he added.
Prosecutors had alleged that, before Karyn Kay was killed, she called 911 to say her son was having a seizure and needed help. Prosecutors said Wachtel suddenly attacked her while she was still on the phone and an emergency operator overheard wails from her and screams from her son.
Police arrived at the Manhattan apartment to find a wild-eyed Wachtel covered in blood, prosecutors said. His mother was unconscious, in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor.
She suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs and internal bleeding. The 63-year-old LaGuardia High School teacher was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Since then, a battery of medical exams found that "the defendant suffered from a mental disease or defect such that he did not appreciate the nature and consequences of his actions at the time he attacked his mother," prosecutors said.
Under such pleas, defendants can be held in mental hospitals until a judge approves a release, if ever.
For now, Wachtel is going instead to a residential therapeutic program. He's due back in court in May.
