Third Trial Begins For David Tarloff In Meat-Cleaver Murder Of Therapist
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Opening statements began Monday in the new murder trial of a man accused of killing a psychotherapist with a meat cleaver on the Upper East Side.
David Tarloff, 45, is on trial for the third time in the February 2008 death of Kathryn Faughey, whose office was turned into a blood bath in the murder.
Tarloff has admitted he killed Faughey.
On the day of the killing, Tarloff burst into Dr. Faughey's office intending to rob her colleague, psychiatrist Kent Shinbach. Tarloff said his intent was to get $40,000 to free his mother from a nursing home and take her to Hawaii.
Instead, he killed the first person he encountered.
But Tarloff's defense argued he was too psychotic to be held criminally responsible. Defense attorney Frederick Sosinsky tells jurors Tarloff, who suffers from schizophrenia, was ``a very sick individual.''
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Evan Krutoy, however, said Tarloff ``knew exactly what he was doing.''
Tarloff has said he was seeking money to get his mother out of a nursing home.
The mental patient, who has been hospitalized 22 times, has been through two mistrials.
A jury deadlocked last year. A 2010 trial attempt foundered during jury selection because of Tarloff's unstable behavior.
Since Taroff's most recent trial, he has been kept at Bellevue Hospital and his mental state has improved, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported in January.
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