Epileptic Matricide Case Adjourned for a Month

The case against the 20-year-old Fordham student charged with beating his mother to death during an epileptic fit in 2010 was adjourned today in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Following a stint at a locked mental health facility, Henry Wachtel’s scheduled court date was moved to April 8th after a sidebar conversation between the prosecutor and defense attorney.

Wachtel was released on $40,000 bail and sent to an out-of-state facility last year where his disease was analyzed and treated.

Looking disheveled and detached, the young student was escorted in and out of the courtroom only to sign court documents before being ordered to appear at the later date.

The episode during which the defendant killed his mother, LaGuardia High School teacher, Karyn Kay in their Midtown apartment was captured in a 911 tape that the defense alleges bolsters the defense argument that the son was not responsible for his actions and that the victim was seeking help for her son and not for herself.

Wachtel said he blacked out during the episode.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jill Konvisor seemed puzzled yet hopeful that Wachtel’s stay at the undisclosed facility would put these questions to rest, noting that his case was “painfully unique.” Konvisor wished him luck as he was escorted by officers to the airport to return to treatment at an undisclosed location.

Wachtel’s time at the facility was expected to answer if he would take a deal, go to trial, or have the charges dropped. The defendant’s father and other relatives and friends reportedly credit his story that the killing was a result of the grand mal seizure.