NEW YORK _ Grafton Thomas stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication two months before he allegedly stormed a Rockland County residence and launched a bloody machete attack at a Hanukkah celebration, his lawyer said Thursday.
In October, Thomas had been prescribed the drug Latuda, which treats schizophrenia and bipolar disorder _ but the bottle was never opened, said Thomas' lawyer, Michael Sussman.
Sussman's aides also found a trove of writings and pictures they said are evidence of Thomas' incompetence. For 18 months between 2016 and 2018, Thomas lived in a Sullivan County cabin, where Sussman found papers filled with Thomas' ramblings, and walls where Thomas scribbled notes.
None of the writings in the vacant Wurtsboro home _ where Sussman's assistants also found some of Thomas' anti-psychotic medication _ contained anything hateful or anti-Semitic, the lawyer said.
Prosecutors are moving forward with hate crime charges against Thomas, 37, in the grisly attack that seriously injured five Orthodox Jews..
But the suspect's family and lawyers continue to press their case that the Monsey massacre _ described by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as an act of "domestic terrorism" _ was a sad and tragic incident rooted in nothing more than mental illness.
"My goal is to have a full portrait of this individual before we start calling him this that and this thing," Sussman told reporters in a conference call with Thomas' mother, Kim Thomas. "There's something here seriously wrong. How it manifested itself was horrible. It doesn't help to call him a name that arouses a whole community."
Among the victims of the attack was Josef Neumann, a 72-year-old father of seven, who was hospitalized with a fractured skull and other injuries.
Doctors said he is in a coma, and told the family that if Neumann survives he may never walk or talk again.
"The fear and the trauma is ongoing," Neumann's daughter, Nicky Kohen said. "We hope he wakes to a changed world with peace unity and love for all."
Kohen said she wanted the focus of the incident to shift from the suspect to the victims, with the hope of discouraging copycat attacks.
Kohen described her dad, a retired fish store owner, as "a people person."
"He likes to talk to people, " Kohen said. "He likes to get to know people. He would stop for people and help them no matter what they look like."'
Cops investigating an earlier anti-Semitic attack in Ramapo, which includes the hamlet of Monsey, said there was no hard evidence that Thomas was behind the Nov. 2 stabbing of a Hasidic man.
"I have no evidence at all at this time to indicate that, none," said Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel. He said his department was still investigating that incident.
Ramapo Town Supervisor Michael Specht said the town would install more license plate readers and increase the amount of street lighting and surveillance cameras.
The suspect's mother, Kim Thomas, who works as a registered nurse in the Bronx, said she took her son into her Greenwood Lake home in 2018 but that her 12-hour shifts kept her from keeping a close eye on him. She said her son's doctors held him responsible for keeping up with his medication.
"I don't invade. I do check on my son," Thomas said. "I would ask him if he took it. He said, `I got it, I got it.' He answered, `Yes, yes, yes.'"
Sussman said Thomas' mental state was affected by sexual abuse he suffered as a child, and abuse of his mother that he witnessed.
The case against Thomas is expected to be presented to a grand jury on Friday.
