He misses mom.
Henry Wachtel, the 19-year-old epileptic charged with murdering his mother during a seizure — in a horrific, caught-on-911 tape bludgeoning — still does not remember the attack, his lawyer said after the teen pleaded not guilty today.
“It’s very difficult. He misses his mother,” defense lawyer Lloyd Epstein said after a brief Manhattan Supreme Court appearance.
The lawyer said Wachel’s defense will rest on his being in the throes of a seizure, and so unable to form the intent to murder his mother, Karyn Kay, 63, an English teacher at Manattan’s La Guardia HS. The slaying happened on a morning in April in the mom and teen’s Midtown apartment.
Wachtel looked disheveled and despondent as he sat before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone. The teen’s dad — Edward Wachtel, a professor at Fordham University, where the teen was a student — smiled warmly at his son from the audience. The kid returned the smile.
After today’s hearing, Wachtel was escorted back to jail, carrying a paperback book in his cuffed hands — Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. He is being held without bail, and returns to court June 28.
“I’m not a killer. I love my mom. She was my rock. We loved each other,” Wachtel had told The Post in an interview from jail shortly after his April arrest. “I just want a hug. I want to go home, but there is no home.”
The mom had dialed 911 to report her son’s seizure, and can be heard on the tape screaming, “He’s coming after me! No! No! No!” There is the sound of a struggle — including grunts from both mother and son. Then there is a silence, broken by Wachtel shouting, “Mommy, Mommy, please don’t die!”