Murder Charge Cleared by New York Violent Crime Lawyer Sosinsky

A New York violent crime lawyer may be able to help defendants in violent crime cases prove that they are not criminally responsible. Alejandro Morales was found not criminally responsible for the stabbing of a 9-year-old boy by reason of insanity. The 31-year-old was reportedly a disturbed and volatile man, according to his attorney Frederick L. Sosinsky. Morales is a felon who has faced repeated diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia.

Case Details

At 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2010, the defendant confessed to police that he had killed the boy. The killing reportedly occurred inside the Upper West Side apartment Morales’s mother lived in. Moralis was on parole for an assault conviction at the time of the attack, and he was taking antipsychotic medication. Peter Casolaro, the lead prosecutor for the case, used the argument that Morales’s delusions were not sufficient to impair his judgment of right and wrong. The prosecutor argued that he was able to determine that it was wrong when he stabbed the boy, the nephew of his mother’s boyfriend. According to the prosecutor, Morales fled the scene barefoot and tried to hide the knife in a trash compactor. When police questioned him about the crime, he reportedly said that he had been robbed.

Forensic Evaluation

Morales’s attorney called upon Dr. Eric D. Goldsmith, a forensic psychologist, to describe the nature of Morales’s schizophrenia. The doctor described the defendant’s numerous hospitalizations, many of which occurred while he was in prison. The psychiatrist also provided documentation of Morales’s delusion in the days leading up to the murder. The delusions included being threatened by gang members and chased by giant rats. After deliberating for two days, the jury determined that Morales was guilty of manslaughter, not murder. The basis for this verdict was that Morales may have intended to injure the boy, but did not actually intend to kill him. The jury also decided that Morales was not criminally responsible for the act due to the severity of his mental illness and inability to understand that the stabbing was wrong. Morales was held until a hearing on July 29 to determine whether he should be committed to a mental hospital.

Contact a New York Violent Crime Lawyer

In violent crime cases such as Morales’s, it is important to make the distinction between intentional and callous acts of violence and those fueled by delusion. For information on cases involving violent crime defense, consider contacting the Law Office of Frederick L. Sosinsky today at (212) 285-2270. As in Morales’s case, the prosecution may underestimate or seek to diminish the role that psychiatric disorders often play in violent crimes. A New York violent crime lawyer may be able to ensure that defendants with these disorders are properly represented.