A judge ordered a hearing about civil commitment for Grafton Thomas, who is charged with stabbing five people with a machete at a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey in 2019.
Hanukkah stabbing suspect still unfit to stand trial a year after NY attack
By Jim Mustian article
Suspect in Hanukkah celebration stabbings, Thomas Grafton, leaves the Ramapo Town Hall in Airmont, New York after being arrested on Dec. 29, 2019. (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has ordered a hearing to decide whether to civilly commit the man charged with stabbing five people with a machete at a suburban New York Hanukkah celebration in 2019.
A recent psychiatric evaluation found Grafton Thomas remains mentally unfit to stand trial despite months of hospitalization at a federal facility in Missouri, where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
A federal judge has ordered a hearing to decide whether to civilly commit the man charged with stabbing five people with a machete at a suburban New York Hanukkah celebration in 2019.
Updated on January 2, 2021 at 9:44 am
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What to Know
A recent psychiatric evaluation found Grafton Thomas remains mentally unfit to stand trial despite months of hospitalization at a federal facility
A hearing this month will determine Thomas’ prognosis for rehabilitation and whether he should be civilly committed rather than tried in federal court
Thomas, 38, is charged in an attack at a rabbi’s home in December 2019 that left five people wounded in Monsey, an Orthodox Jewish community north of New York City
A federal judge has ordered a hearing to decide whether to civilly commit the man charged with stabbing five people with a machete at a suburban New York Hanukkah celebration in 2019.
A federal judge has ordered a hearing to decide whether to civilly commit the man charged with stabbing five people with a machete at a suburban New York