Thomas Gilbert’s Sanity at Issue

The mental competence of a man accused of murdering his father earlier this year in their Manhattan apartment is at issue this week in the Centre Street courtroom of New York State Supreme Court Justice Melissa Jackson.

Two forensic psychiatrists told the court in September that Thomas Gilbert Jr., 31, who allegedly shot his father, Thomas Gilbert Sr., in the 70-year-old man’s Beekman Place apartment on Jan. 4, was mentally ill and incapable of assisting in his own defense. If the court accepts that determination, Mr. Gilbert, whose family are longtime owners of a house in the Georgica Association, would be hospitalized and treated in a state facility until such time as he is found sane, then would be tried.

The office of the Manhattan district attorney challenged the psychiatrists’ finding, and the court granted its request for a third examination, this time by a psychologist chosen by the prosecution.

Mr. Gilbert, who was arrested the day after the murder and has been in jail ever since, attended the first two sessions of his sanity hearing but did not appear on Friday. “My client has informed me that he does not wish to attend,” his lawyer, Alex Spiro of Brafman & Associates, told Justice Jackson, later adding that his client was refusing to cooperate with him.

Shelly Gilbert discovered her husband’s body after returning from a brief trip to the store. She has attended each court session this past week. The hearing goes into its fifth session Friday.

The senior Mr. Gilbert was a hedge fund manager who founded Wainscott Capital Partners Fund. In recent years, according to statements made in court, his son, a Princeton graduate, became estranged from his parents, though still relying on them for financial support after some of his business ventures failed. 

The lead prosecutor, Craig Ortner, called Dr. Stuart M. Kirschner, their expert witness, first. Dr. Kirschner told the court that while Mr. Gilbert Jr. might be “delusional,” it would not prevent him from assisting his lawyer in his defense. “He doesn’t have a long history of psychosis,” the doctor said. He described Mr. Gilbert as having “above-average intelligence.”

A video was played for the court of Dr. Kirschner’s interview with the defendant, who appeared calm. The psychologist was asked during cross-examination if he did not find that Mr. Gilbert’s demeanor demonstrated a “flat affect,” which would be a sign of mental illness. “No,” he answered. “I saw a sadness in Mr. Gilbert, not a flat affect.”

Mr. Spiro attacked the doctor’s methodology and credibility. Noting that Dr. Kirschner has testified in court over 200 times, always for the prosecution, he called him, in effect, a gun for hire, and questioned why the doctor did not take Mr. Gilbert’s psychiatric history into account. He cited incidents occurring when the defendant was in college in 2004 and 2005, as well as reports from various doctors who have treated Mr. Gilbert over the years.

Dr. Daniel S. Mundy, one of the two who had found Mr. Gilbert to be mentally ill, took the stand next. He told the court he had conducted some 300 competency exams, the results being “about 50-50.”

“Mr. Gilbert was saying he felt contaminated,” Dr. Mundy said. When asked about his mental state and the past, he said, Mr. Gilbert would reply, “I have to refer to my guidelines.”

“The odd way he presents to us was very similar to how he presented to Corrections,” Dr. Mundy said, referring to doctors who treated Mr. Gilbert on Rikers Island. “They are calling it delusional. They are calling it psychosis.” 

He said Mr. Gilbert had told him that other inmates there were doing “pantomime TV shows,” to “mess with his mental illness.” 

Dr. Kirschner had questioned how the defendant could be considered mentally ill when he is not on medication. Dr. Mundy said mental illness does not always call for drug treatment. He used mental retardation as an example. “There is not a pill for that.”

In cross-examining Dr. Mundy, Mr. Ortner, the prosecutor, presented a very different picture. He claimed that Mr. Gilbert was faking mental illness to set up a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity. Mr. Spiro, he said, had been in constant contact with Mr. Gilbert, contrary to his insistence that there was no cooperation. “Isn’t he the least bit partisan? He is getting paid. Do you have any idea how much Mr. Spiro is getting paid? A million dollars, maybe.” He called Mr. Spiro a “zealous” advocate for his client, characterizing the defense as simply a “legal maneuver.” Mr. Gilbert, he concluded, has been forcing his mother to dip into his father’s funds for years.

Mr. Spiro had been retained by the elder Mr. Gilbert several times over the years to defend his son.

At one point, Mr. Ortner asked Dr. Mundy if he had been following the trial. “Only so much as what I read in the press, which I take with a grain of salt,” Dr. Mundy answered. The large courtroom, which was nearly full, broke into laughter, one of the few moments of levity during the hearing.

The cross-examination of Dr. Mundy will continue tomorrow, to be followed by the testimony of Dr. Louise Mullen.

Closer to home, while the Manhattan D.A. is fighting the two psychiatrists’ determination, the Suffolk County D.A. is not. Last Thursday in East Hampton Town Justice Court, misdemeanor charges of unlicensed driving against Mr. Gilbert were dropped after Justice Steven Tekulsky was informed that Mr. Gilbert had been found “mentally incompetent.” 

Mr. Gilbert was also facing a contempt of court charge in Southampton Justice Court for allegedly violating an order of protection issued for a childhood friend from Sagaponack, Peter Smith Jr. The clerk’s office at the courthouse confirmed Tuesday that the case has been removed from the calendar. 

Mr. Gilbert was accused, first, of assaulting Mr. Smith in Brooklyn; then of violating the resulting order of protection on Labor Day, 2014. He is considered a possible suspect in a fire that destroyed Mr. Smith’s parents’ house in Sagaponack two weeks later.