There is still no get-out-of-jail deal — though negotiations are ongoing — for the teen accused of murdering his La Guardia HS teacher mom in their Midtown apartment during an epileptic fit, his lawyer said today.
Henry Wachtel, 19, has been held in a Queens jail since early April, when he beat Karyn Kay, 63, to death in a brutal bludgeoning caught on 911.
Kay had called 911 to report that her son was having a seizure; the tape continued to roll as she screamed, “Help! Help! He’s attacking me!” and as the boy sobbed “Mommy! Mommy! Please don’t die!” after a violent struggle.
Defese lawyer Lloyd Epstein has repeatedly argued that Wachtel was blacked out and flailing uncontrollably.
Multiple sources say negotiations involve the kid’s release to a yet-agreed-upon secure mental health facility pending some disposition of the charges and that prosecutors are receptive to such an arrangement.
“There are some talks between myself and the District Attorney’s office,” Epstein said this morning after a brief update hearing before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone, who must approve any change in Wachtel’s remand status.
Wachtel was not present for the hearing; his father, Edward, a professor at Fordham University, was present in the audience among a large group of supporters; none of them would comment.
“The negotiations are very sensitive,” the lawyer told reporters.
Asked of the teen’s mental state, the lawyer said, “Henry is mourning for his mother. And that results in a certain level of sadness. A certain level of distress.
“It’s hard for a 19-year-old boy to lose his mother no matter what the circumstances are,” the lawyer continued. “His mood is really focused on his mother. That’s what he’s still talking about.”
In a jailhouse interview the day after his murder indictment, Wachtel told a Post reporter that he couldn’t remember a thing about the bludgeoning, and sobbed that he loved and misses his mom.
His next court date has been set for July 11.