Alleged Monsey stabber indicted on 6 attempted murder charges

Hanukkah stabbing suspect Grafton Thomas leaves the Ramapo Town Hall in Airmont, New York after being arrested on December 29, 2019. Image by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images

By Marcy Oster January 6, 2020

(JTA) — A grand jury in Rockland County, New York, has indicted the alleged Monsey stabber on six attempted murder charges.

The charges against Grafton Thomas announced on Friday included six counts of attempted murder in the second degree, three counts of assault in the first degree, three counts of attempted assault in the first degree and two counts of burglary in the first degree.

Thomas, 37, was arrested following the Dec. 28 attack at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg. One of the victims, Josef Neumann, 71, is fighting for his life as a result of injuries to his head and brain caused. Thomas denies stabbing anyone, and his family says he suffers from mental illness.

Thomas earlier had pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and a judge set his bail at $5 million. He faces a maximum of 25 years in state prison.

The stabbings also carry a federal hate crimes charge of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill.

In a criminal complaint, FBI Special Agent Julie Brown said investigators found journal pages written by Thomas that “express anti-Semitic sentiments.”

But Thomas’ family, in a statement released by his attorney, Michael Sussman, said the suspect “has no known history of anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races.”

The post Alleged Monsey stabber indicted on 6 attempted murder charges appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO