A lawyer for the man charged with pushing a Queens man onto a subway track in front of an approaching Q train last week said Tuesday that his client’s actions might have been justified because the man who died had been drinking and was harassing him.

The accused man, Naeem Davis, appeared briefly in Criminal Court in Manhattan. Mr. Davis said nothing in court.

His lawyer, Stephen Pokart of Legal Aid, said he had agreed to allow prosecutors another week to present the case to a grand jury, something the law generally requires within six days of arrest. James Lin, an assistant district attorney, told the judge that the case would be put before a grand jury by next Tuesday.

In court, Mr. Pokart mentioned several news accounts in describing potentially exculpatory material he is entitled to receive from prosecutors.