They said it would never happen, but after two previous failed attempts, schizophrenic alleged killer David Tarloff was finally deemed fit to stand trial for the grisly 2008 murder of therapist Kathryn Faughey. First up for consideration in court: gruesome photographs of the killing.
Tarloff's defense lawyer Frederick Sosinsky pleaded with the judge Friday to limit the sickening, horrific images, but to no avail. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin insisted there would be no "sanitizing" of Tarloff's merciless actions.
Tarloff, who has a history of schizophrenic delusions, had originally only planned to rob Faughey's officemate - psychiatrist Dr. Kent Shinbach - to get $50,000 to rescue his mother from a nursing home and send her to Hawaii, he told police at the time, according to The Associated Press. Shinbach had treated Tarloff, and been involved in his first required hospitalization 17 years prior.
The day of the alleged attempted robbery, Faughey ran into Tarloff before he could find Shinbach. Believing she was trying to kill him, Tarloff then brutally "slashed" her 15 times with a meat cleaver as Shinbach tried in vein to defend her. Shinbach was seriously harmed, but survived, according to the New York Post.
The defense concedes their client committed the killing. What's really at stake here is whether or not Tarloff understood what he was doing when he killed Faughey. Tarloff's lawyers claim he couldn't have known what he was doing, because he was convinced he was the Messiah and that God had ordered to rob and murder Shinbach.
To prove that Tarloff acted with premeditation and "knew exactly what he was doing," prosecuting attorney Evan Krutoy presented the "very sad photos" to the court, describing the scene.
"Dr. Faughey's office and her body will speak to you about the violence," Krutoy said, The Post reported. "It will speak to you about her will to live and his desire to kill."
Krutoy claimed Tarloff acted without conscience, and would have done whatever it took to get what he was after.
"He didn't see a sister or a daughter, a doctor or a wife. What the saw was an obstacle, someone who stood in the path that the wanted to take," Krutoy argued.
"He removed Dr. Faughey by taking a knife and shoving it into her chest," he said.
Krutoy claimed Tarloff had been planning the attack for weeks before it occurred. He said video surveillance proved Tarloff had cased the building for weeks. The defendant also made numerous calls to discover where Shinbach was, packed two suit cases full of supplies - one with duct tape, rope, and extra clothing; another with the cleaver, knives and a wooden mallet - and also planned an escape route, Krutoy said.
"He picked his target -- an old doctor he didn't like... He knew Dr. Shinbach wasn't going to cut him a check for thousands of dollars so he has to come and use force."
If convicted, Tarloff faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.