CANTON — The attorney representing a Massena man accused of torturing and mutilating another man has filed a motion to present an insanity defense for his client's trial.
St. Lawrence County Public Defender Brian D. Pilatzke said Tuesday that he will have Harry E. Klages II evaluated by a psychologist. The evaluation will have to be done at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Staten Island, where he's being held on an earlier assault conviction.
The two-page motion states Klages "had diminished mental capacity for perpetration of that offense."
Klages 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.
St. Lawrence County Assistant District Attorney Thomas C. Finnerty Jr. said he wasn't surprised with the filing.
"Absolutely not," said Mr. Finnerty when asked if Klages was incompetent at the time of the incident. "But we understand that it is his right to raise that defense."
County Court Judge Jerome J. Richards will make a decision on the motion in the coming weeks, Mr. Pilatzke said. The public defender is also looking into filing a change of venue motion because of the intense media coverage of the case.
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.