A judge has found a Chinese immigrant accused of killing five members of his family in Brooklyn is suffering from a mental illness that makes him unfit to proceed with his criminal case.
An attorney for Mingdong Chen didn't disclose the 25-year-old's diagnosis Monday but said he's exhibiting symptoms of severe mental illness that prevent him from making reasoned decisions.
Lawyer Danielle Eaddy says Chen will be brought to an inpatient psychiatric facility.
Chen faces five counts of murder in the stabbings of his cousin's wife and her children in Sunset Park last October. He's pleaded not guilty.
The mother, 37-year-old Qiao Zhen Li, and her children, Linda, 9; Amy, 7; Kevin, 5; and 18-month-old William, all with the last name Zhuo, were all killed.
Police said Chen stabbed and slashed the victims in their necks and torsos. The family was found in various rooms in their apartment on the first floor of a two-story brick house. Some were hospitalized and pronounced dead; others died at the scene.
Chen had been staying with the family for about a week. He was a transient and illegally in the United States, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hale said.
