CANTON — The attorney representing a Massena man accused of torturing and mutilating another man said that media coverage of the alleged crime has him leaning toward seeking a change of venue for his client's trial.
"I have to file for a stay from this court and apply to the appellate division asking that the venue be changed based on pretrial publicity," Public Defender Brian D. Pilatzke said Monday outside of St. Lawrence County Court before a pretrial conference to review the grand jury transcript. "I have tried to gather information about how much news coverage, and the tone and tenor of that coverage."
Harry E. Klages II is accused of torturing Andrew W. Lesperance by mutilating both of his eyes, slicing open his abdomen from his groin to just below his chest, cutting off his penis and trying to cut off his left leg below the hip.
Klages, 26, of 411 S. Main St., Apt. 6, pleaded innocent last month in St. Lawrence County Court on charges of first-degree attempted murder and six counts of first-degree assault. He rejected a deal by prosecutors to serve up to 25 years in state prison for assault in exchange for dropping the other charges.
Mr. Pilatzke has until Sept. 11 to file the motion seeking to have the case moved out of St. Lawrence County. The attorney has until next week to decide whether he will use an insanity defense, which he said in July he was considering. Klages, who is being held in Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Staten Island, on an earlier assault conviction, has not been evaluated by a psychologist. Mr. Pilatzke is scheduled to talk with Klages on Friday by telephone.
The attack took place Jan. 31 at Klages's apartment after a party. Police were called when an intoxicated Klages called his father to say he had done something "he wasn't very proud of."
The attack took place while Klages was serving two separate probationary sentences from cases that were settled when he pleaded guilty to attempted assault. One involved a hammer attack on a man in Potsdam on July 23, 2005. The other was a knife attack on an Ogdensburg man in a tavern parking lot Aug. 26, 2006.
