Lawyer for suspect in Monsey stabbing attack seeks to exhume victim

“We need to know medically if it’s a murder or if it’s the consequence of some disease pattern or something else,” Sussman said in an interview Tuesday.

By World Israel News Staff and AP

An attorney for the man accused of committing an anti-Semitic attack with a machete wants the body of the victim who later died to be exhumed.

Attorney Michael Sussman wants the body of Josef Neumann exhumed for an autopsy, The Journal News reported.

“We need to know medically if it’s a murder or if it’s the consequence of some disease pattern or something else,” Sussman said in an interview Tuesday.

Grafton Thomas has been indicted on federal hate crime charges and state charges including attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Sussman has argued that his client was not motivated by anti-Semitism and is mentally ill.

Prosecutors said they would seek a murder charge in Neumann’s death but it has not yet been filed, according to Journal News.

On Dec. 28, 2019, Grafton Thomas stormed into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in Monsey, NY and hacked the 72-year-old and four other Orthodox Jews with a machete during a Chanukah party.

In January, Thomas pleaded not guilty on six counts of attempted murder and 10 federal hate crimes charges. Because Neumann died, it is expected prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

However, a forensic psychiatrist’s evaluation in late January said Thomas is unfit to stand trial because he suffers from schizophrenia, experiences hallucinations, and hears voices.

If the courts find Thomas unfit to stand trial, he will be sent to a psychiatric facility until he’s found able to understand the charges against him.

USA Today reports the FBI searched Thomas’ home and went through his cell phone on Sunday.  They found the packaging for the 18-inch machete Thomas used in the Chanukah attack. On his cell phone, the FBI found references to Hitler, the Nazis, and anti-Semitic material.