NEW YORK (AP) — A man on trial for bludgeoning four men to death with a metal bar as they slept on the New York City streets had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he left jail months earlier and was hearing voices telling him he needed to kill 40 people or he would die too, his lawyer told jurors on Tuesday.
Randy Santos, 31, is asserting an insanity defense at his trial in state court in Manhattan. Through his lawyers, he has acknowledged committing the 2019 Chinatown rampage. But, they argue, he is not criminally responsible because mental illness has polluted his mind with irrational thoughts and left him prone to violence.
If they succeed, Santos could be sent to a psychiatric treatment facility instead of prison…