Levi Aron Found Competent for Trial
Levi Aron, the suspect in the kidnapping and murder of eight-year-old New York City boy Leiby Kletzky was found competent to stand trial after pleading not guilty at his court hearing on Thursday.
Aron had claimed to hear voices, but after a psychiatric evaluation he was found able to stand trial.
Defense lawyer Jennifer McCann said that this does not completely rule out the possibility of an insanity defense after a plea of not guilty was entered for Aron at his Brooklyn arraignment.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Aron stayed silent during his court appearance.
Pierre Bazille, Aron’s lawyer said that Aron may still pursue an insanity defense.
“We believe him to have some psychiatric disorder,” he said.
Court reports revealed that Aron also made a series of strange remarks after his arrest including telling the police “I’m famous.”
He also told them he didn’t need to keep Kosher and that he would happily eat a meal from McDonalds. The police fed him Chinese instead.
Leiby Kletzky went missing last month after attending a religious day camp.
The boy was expected to meet his mother on his way home after the camp ended but never returned.
According to prosecutors Kletzky met Aron after getting lost on his way home and asked him for help.
About 33 hours later, parts of Leiby Kletzky’s body were found by detectives including his feet wrapped in plastic, in Aron’s freezer. The rest of his body was found in bags inside a red suitcase in a nearby trash bin.
Three bloody knives and a cutting board were found in Aron’s home.
Police and prosecutors said Aron had confessed to suffocating the boy, but were still attempting to verify his strange explanation of the boy’s death.
Kletzky’s autopsy revealed that he was killed from a combination of cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant, quetiapine, an antipsychotic, and the pain medications hydrocodone and Tylenol.
