RAMAPO, N.Y. (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.
Neumann was one of five people injured in the attack on a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, on Dec. 28.
“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.