By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A mentally ill man accused of fatally stabbing a 9-year-old in Morningside Heights over a video game had consumed a mix of psychiatric drugs and marijuana before the attack, his attorney said Tuesday.
Alejandro Morales, 25, who family members said suffered from schizophrenia, was thrown further off balance by the drugs when he stabbed fourth grader Anthony Maldonado in the early hours of Jan. 2, his attorney Frederick Sosinsky said at an arraignment hearing.
Prosecutors said Morales confessed to the gruesome killing when interviewed by police minutes after the nightmarish scene at 75 La Salle St.
The details of the confession have not been released yet.
As Morales was arraigned on murder charges, the family of the child attended his funeral in New Jersey, where he had lived with his mother in Palisades Park.
Anthony had been staying at his uncle's apartment at the Grant Houses, and was left with Morales — his cousin — when other family members went to get food from a nearby restaurant early in the morning, according to reports. Morales and Maldonado had been playing a Tony Hawk skate game together in their relatives' apartment.
Seriously wounded, the child had knocked on the bedroom door of his step-aunt about 3:30 a.m. to tell her he'd been stabbed, according to the criminal complaint.
The boy was "bleeding heavily" before losing consciousness and falling to the ground, the complaint said.
Morales fled the apartment and was picked up by police shortly after in the same neighborhood, the complaint said.
The accused assailant stabbed the boy at least ten times, with one or more fatal blow to his chest, prosecutors said.
Morales served five years in prison for a 2004 violent subway assault, in which he bashed his victim on the head with a bottle, causing serious injury.
According to Sosinsky, he has been receiving psychiatric treatment since his youth. He was also treated while in prison and continued treatment up until days before the stabbing.
"There is demonstrable proof of his mental illness," Sosinsky said.
Sosinsky said Morales did not complete high school and did not know of his work history.
Morales is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 8. He is being held in psychiatric custody without bail.
