Pittsburgh teen can’t plead guilty in school stabbings
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A judge won’t allow a teen charged with slashing and stabbing 20 fellow students and a security guard at a Pennsylvania high school to plead guilty but mentally ill.
Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani concluded in an opinion and court order Friday that 19-year-old Alex Hribal “may have suffered from a psychotic illness” during the April 2014 rampage but that didn’t make him incapable of knowing what he did was wrong.
Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey has never denied Hribal committed the attack at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, but argued it was fueled by the defendant’s mental health issues.
The judge cited Hribal’s planning and preparation ahead of the rampage and inconsistent mental health assessments in issuing the denial.
Thomassey says he’s very disappointed.