A paranoid schizophrenic man was found guilty by a Manhattan jury Friday of using a meat cleaver to brutally murder an Upper East Side shrink six years ago.
David Tarloff, 46, was convicted on all six counts, including first- and second-degree murder of Kathryn Faughey in her East 79th Street office in February 2008.
The 12-person jury deliberated for about five hours in the third insanity trial of the madman. Jurors had to decide whether Tarloff was too psychotic to know it was wrong to slaughter Faughey, an argument defense attorneys made. But prosecutors argued Tarloff, who confessed to killing the doc, was sane enough to distinguish between right and wrong.
Jurors said convicting Tarloff was not easy.
“It was a very hard decision,” said juror No. 4, Antonio Warren, 22, of Harlem. “(Tarloff) is insane, but during that moment, he wasn’t insane. It was a very difficult choice. This is someone’s life.”
Faughey’s six siblings kept vigil during the nearly month-long trial.
“The ordeal is over, thank God. Our family has been through hell with this,” said brother Owen, 62. “We got justice, though, for our beautiful sister Kathryn.”
Tarloff’s actual intended target that day was Dr. Kent Shinback, Faughey’s colleague, who 17 years prior diagnosed him with schizophrenia and had him involuntarily committed.
Tarloff told police he intended to rob Shinback and use the cash so he could rescue his mother from a nursing home and take her to Hawaii.
“I’m glad it’s finally over. I wish the family to have peace. I hope my brother gets the care he needs,” said Tarloff’s brother Robert, who was also in court Friday.
Last year, a jury deadlocked after 10 days of heated deliberations and, in the first trial in 2012, Tarloff was deemed mentally unfit during jury selection.