Crime Watch

Posted Wednesday, July 20, 2011 3:04 pm

Merrick resident Evan Sachs has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault, nearly 10 months after he stabbed an 8-year-old boy inside a Dave & Buster’s restaurant in Wetsbury on Oct. 8, 2010, according to the Nassau County district attorney’s office.

Sachs, 23, a 2005 Calhoun High School graduate, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault after Nassau County Court Judge Jerald Carter promised to sentence him to 14 years in prison, District Attorney Kathleen Rice said. The D.A.’s office had recommended the maximum allowable sentence of 25 years. Sachs will be sentenced on Sept. 8.

“This brutal attack could have turned out much worse if the defendant’s true intentions had been realized,” said Rice. “Luckily they weren’t, and this brave young boy has a long life ahead of him. My office will continue to push for Mr. Sachs to serve the maximum allowable prison sentence.”

The 8-year-old victim, whose name was never made public, survived the attack, but suffered a partially collapsed lung. He has since recovered from his injuries, according to the D.A.’s office.

Rice said that Sachs ran into the bathroom of the restaurant after stabbing the boy, and was subdued by the victim’s father and another witness until police arrived. A note Sachs had written, which was found in his pocket, indicated that he had been planning to kill the child, according to Rice’s office.

Sachs initially pleaded not guilty to attempted murder last November. Attorney Michael Soshnick, who represents him, said that the recommendation by Rice for the maximum allowable prison sentence was “inappropriate” for a number of reasons.

“My client has no prior criminal history of any kind or nature whatsoever,” said Soshnick, who added that “the injuries sustained by the victim in this case were not ‘serious physical injuries,’ as that term is defined in the penal law.” As a result, Soshnick said, the district attorney “over-indicted” the case when she called for a first-degree assault charge in November.

Soshnick also referred to Sachs’s history of mental illness, saying that just a few weeks before the stabbing, he was prescribed Celexa, an anti-depressant, which, according to Soshnick, only worsened his condition. “That drug, in addition to the other regimen of medications he was receiving, clearly tipped my client and caused him to do something that he would not have done under ordinary circumstances,” he said.

Celexa, a brand name for the drug citalopram, has U.S. Food and Drug administration approval to treat major depression. Forest Laboratories Inc., a pharmaceutical company that manufactures and markets the drug in the U.S., lists Celexa’s full prescribing information and box warning on its website. The box warning states, “Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of Celexa or any other antidepressant in a child, adolescent or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need.”

In 2009, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Department of Justice charged Forest Laboratories with defrauding the government of millions of dollars by illegally marketing Celexa for unapproved uses in children and teenagers. Federal prosecutors alleged in a civil complaint that former top executives at Forest Laboratories concealed for several years a clinical study that showed that the drugs were not effective in children and might even pose risks to them, including causing some to become suicidal.

The International Coalition for Drug Awareness, a private, nonprofit group of physicians, researchers, journalists and concerned citizens, lists several instances on its website of crimes committed by individuals who were known to be on Celexa. In one case, an 18-year-old high school student from Virginia was arrested last year after allegedly threatening the lives of fellow classmates during an online conversation. The suspect reportedly had been taking Celexa “on and off” before the incident, according to the school’s psychologist.

Soshnick said that Sachs has struggled with mental illness since he was a boy, and that he has seen doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers his entire life. “It’s just unfortunate that medical science has not reached the point of development where somebody like my client can get the appropriate diagnosis and treatment in order to live a healthy and productive life,” Soshnick said. “Instead, the doctors did not make him better, and, in fact, made him worse.”

Soshnick added that Sachs is “extremely remorseful” for what he did, and that he has “accepted responsibility for his crime.”

This is a case “where somebody was mentally ill and who was laboring under an extreme emotional disturbance did something that he regretted as soon as he did it,” Soshnick said. “I don’t believe my client is an appropriate candidate for the absolute maximum sentence permitted under the law.”

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