Mental Illness and Criminal Responsibility

In a Manhattan state court trial, 31-year-old Randy Santos is asserting an insanity defense for the 2019 Chinatown rampage in which four homeless men were bludgeoned to death and two others badly injured with a 4‑foot metal bar as they slept on the streets. Prosecutors say surveillance video, eyewitnesses and DNA on the blood‑covered bar show Santos methodically attacked the men between 1:30 and 2 a.m. on Oct. 5, 2019, pausing to avoid witnesses and later telling police, “Yeah, that’s me,” when shown the footage. His lawyer told jurors Santos had been diagnosed with schizophrenia months earlier and was hearing voices ordering him to kill 40 people or die himself, arguing he knew what he was doing physically but could not appreciate its wrongfulness and should be sent to a psychiatric facility instead of prison. The state counters that his efforts to look for bystanders and wait for a passerby to leave prove he understood the moral and legal consequences of killing the men, who ranged in age from 39 to 83, and that he had carried out a similar 'trial run' beating a week earlier. If jurors reject the insanity claim, Santos faces a potential life sentence; if they accept it, he could be involuntarily committed for as long as doctors and the court deem necessary, a decision that will shape how New York handles one of its most notorious recent attacks on people living on the streets.