The cleaver-swinging mental patient who slashed an Upper East Side psychologist to death in February has settled on a “God made me do it” insanity defense.
When the gruesome murder goes to trial, David Tarloff will try to beat prison by arguing that his schizophrenia made him believe God was behind the attack, according to papers filed yesterday.
If a jury agrees that Tarloff, 40, was too crazy to know that his actions were wrong, he would be sent to a secure mental facility rather than face the maximum of life in prison for the murder of psychiatrist Kathryn Faughey, 56.
On Feb. 12, Tarloff packed a rolling suitcase full of knives and admittedly embarked on a bloodbath at Faughey’s East 79th Street offices.
He confessed that his target had been Dr. Kent Shinbach, 70, who had treated him 17 years prior.
Tarloff planned to rob Shinbach at knifepoint, use the money to free his dementia-suffering mother from a nursing home and take her to Hawaii.
Tarloff’s lawyers said he held the “belief that he is the Messiah,” and often saw “Satan” spelled out in his mind.