Grafton Thomas still incompetent to face murder charge in 2019 Ramapo machete attack
NEW CITY - Grafton Thomas will spend at least another two years in a psychiatric facility after again being found incompetent for trial on murder and attempted murder charges from the 2019 machete attack on Hasidic Jews attending a Ramapo Hanukkah party.
Rockland County Judge Kevin Russo signed an "order of retention" on Wednesday returning Thomas to the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center in New Hampton.
After the attack, Thomas first had been held in a federal mental health facility in Missouri in 2020 before being returned to New York. Russo first signed the commitment document in January 2022 after several doctors found him incompetent.
The document signed by Russo on Wednesday states that Thomas, "as a result of mental disease or defect, cannot understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense."
Thomas will return to court in two years for another competency hearing unless the psychiatric center doctors determine he's no longer incapacitated and can understand the charges. He would then stand trial. His confinement could last his entire life.
Thomas is charged in Rockland in a 14-count grand jury indictment with second-degree murder for killing 72-year-old Josef Neumann on Dec. 28, 2019. Neumann died months later after being comatose with head injuries. The murder count carries a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
Thomas also faces six counts of attempted murder and assault. He's accused of invading the rabbi's house on Forshay Road and attacking partygoers with a machete.
His attorney, Michael Sussman of Orange County, pleaded Thomas not guilty.
"The Rockland County District Attorney's Office is committed to getting justice on behalf of Josef Neumann, and the others injured during this horrific attack," said Scott Waters, a public information officer for District Attorney Thomas Walsh. "When the defendant is ruled competent, the office will proceed with prosecution."
Thomas, once a Greenwood Lake resident in Orange County, also faces a separate 10-count federal indictment. The federal case accuses him of hate crimes by trying to kill the men based on their religion and obstructing the free exercise of religion in an attempt to kill them.
A federal judge will also review the declaration that Thomas remains incapable of understanding the charges against him.
Monsey: A year after violent attacks on Howard Drive and Forshay Road in Ramapo, questions linger
The 2021 Hanukkah attack drew national attention and brought state and federal elected officials into Rockland.
Thomas has been a suspect in the predawn attack and stabbing of a then 30-year-old rabbi walking to a synagogue on Howard Drive in Monsey on Nov. 20, 2019. No arrests or charges have been made.
The attacks led to fear and uncertainty in the Rockland Orthodox Jewish community, coming on the heels of street attacks on Jews in Brooklyn and a Jersey City, New Jersey, supermarket.
FBI complaint: Antisemitism could have spurred the attack.
Sussman and Thomas' family have said he had undergone a mental decline for years before the attack and had been prescribed at least three medications for depression and psychosis.
A federal complaint states Thomas maintained a journal containing references to Nazism and the Black Hebrew Israelites — the group linked to the fatal attack on a kosher grocery store in Jersey City.
The FBI searched Thomas' home and his cell phone, finding references to Jews, Hitler, and the Nazi culture, as well as packaging for an 18-inch machete, according to the complaint.
His family denies antisemitism inspired Thomas.
Authorities said Thomas burst into Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's house on Forshay Road, declaring, "No one is leaving" and started slashing and stabbing people with an 18-inch machete. One partygoer chased Thomas out of the house wielding furniture and gave his license plate number to Ramapo police.
Two NYPD officers stopped the car at 11:49 p.m. that night, detecting a strong smell of bleach, and saw blood on Thomas' clothing, authorities said.
The officers seized a machete with dried blood on it from under the front passenger seat and a knife with traces of dried blood and hair from the pocket of the rear of the front passenger seat.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Grafton Thomas found unfit to face charges in Ramapo machete attack
