The jury ruled on Wednesday that 31-year-old Richard Rojas should not be held liable for a mental illness or defect and will not face a standard prison sentence on charges against him, the district prosecutor’s office said.
Instead, the service said, he will be forcibly assigned to a psychiatric facility designated by the judge.
Rohas, a Bronx Navy resident who crashed his car into crowds of pedestrians in busy Times Square in Manhattan on May 18, 2017. He jumped onto the sidewalk in a car west on 7th Avenue at 42nd Street and slipped through three intersections before crashing in the northwest corner of 45th Street, police said at the time.
When he got out of the wrecked vehicle, witnesses on the scene were working to detain him. He then told a traffic agent, “I wanted to kill them all,” according to the criminal complaint.
Rojas gave a positive test for PCP and told police that God made him do it, a CNN law enforcement source said during the attack. He was charged with the murder of 18-year-old Alice Ellsman, who was killed in a rampage, in addition to 20 attempted murders, one count of aggravated car murder and a second-degree attempted murder, according to the criminal complaint. He pleaded not guilty.
Ellsman’s mother questioned the jury’s decision after the verdict was announced.
“If that had happened to one of the juror’s children, would they still say ‘I’m not responsible?'” Jill Ellsman told CNN in a statement Wednesday. “Do they feel safe living in the same area where Richard Rojas can be on the streets again?”
Alice was visiting Portage, Michigan, with her family that day. Her younger sister Ava was seriously injured but survived the accident.
CNN turned to Rojas’ adviser for comment.
Shortly after the 2017 attack, city officials and law enforcement officials said they were investigating the possibility that Rojas had a mental illness.
“I am now talking to family members [that Rojas] has demonstrated mental health problems coming from childhood that … went unnoticed even while he was in the U.S. military, “then-New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told WNYC Radio the day after the event.
He was arrested several times before the attack, including while in the Florida Navy in 2013. He then pleaded guilty to a military judge for drunk driving, failing to pay fair debt, drunkenness and hooliganism, and communicating a threat.
Rojas remains in custody and the parties are expected to reconsider the order to check the judge on Thursday.
“We are grateful to the jury for his service. Our condolences continue to be with the family, friends and relatives of Alice Ellsman, who suffered a terrible and tragic loss, and all the victims of this horrific incident. I thank the prosecutors, detectives, analysts and staff for their hard work and dedication in this long case, “said District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement on the verdict.
CNN’s Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.
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