By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A schizophrenic defendant charged with murdering a psychiatrist with a meat cleaver said Wednesday that he had changed his mind about firing his defense attorney, whom he'd accused of conspiring against him.
David Tarloff, who claims he is the son of God and was commissioned by a higher being to carry out the 2008 crime, had been deemed unfit to stand trial, but the judgement was reversed and a trial date was set for Oct. 12.
Tarloff had recently claimed that his attorney, Bryan Konoski, was working with prosecutors against him.
"The first time I saw him I thought he was a liar," Tarloff, 42, said of his lawyer at a recent court appearance.
But after meeting with Konoski again, Tarloff said he had become convinced that "he is a good man" and a trustworthy lawyer, he told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Charles Solomon on Wednesday.
"I'm more than happy to continue with Bryan as [my] counsel," Tarloff said at a court hearing Wednesday.
Konoksi told reporters Tarloff "came to this decision on his own" after they talked it out.
At trial, Konoski plans to argue Tarloff is not guilty by reason of insanity. He said Medicaid staffers will testify that Tarloff has been in psychiatric care over 1,000 times.
Tarloff is accused of killing Kathryn Faughey, who shared an East 79th Street office with a doctor who had reportedly committed Tarloff to an inpatient mental facility.
