Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

Diana Nadell's lawyers asked a judge on Thursday to help get her off jail suicide watch, saying the situation is restricting their ability to meet with her privately to prepare her defense against a murder charge.

Nadell is accused in the Jan. 25 slaying of her mother-in-law, Peggy Nadell, 80, in Valley Cottage, as well as later plotting to have two witnesses in the murder case killed.

Prosecutor Richard Kennison Moran said Nadell has been on suicide watch since sometime this summer after authorities read a letter she had written to one of her children in Florida saying she would commit suicide. She also has been speaking with her children by telephone.

Moran said jail officials started monitoring her personal letters after learning about her alleged plot to have two witnesses killed.

Her attorney, Luis Penichet of White Plains, said Nadell has not been evaluated by a mental health expert but still was placed on suicide watch. She also has declined medication.

State Supreme Court Justice William Kelly asked Nadell in court Thursday whether she had any psychiatric issues. Nadell shook her head to indicate "No."

Penichet represents Nadell in the murder case for the Jan. 25 beating and stabbing death of Peggy Nadell inside her Andover Road house in Valley Cottage. Attorney Bruce Klein, a Rockland resident with offices in the Bronx, has been appointed to represent her on charges of plotting to kill witnesses.

Penichet told Kelly that the restrictive suicide watch is interfering with his ability to meet privately with Nadell to go over evidence and discuss her defense strategy.

Nadell is being held in the Ulster County jail after stints in Orange County and Rikers Island in Queens. She's being kept out of the county to separate her from a co-defendant, Andrea Benson, 25, of Washington, DC, who pleaded guilty to murder and has agreed to testify against Nadell.

Kelly told the lawyers he would sign an order asking for more accommodations for the lawyers if Penichet drafted it. Moran also said he would talk with Rockland County jail officials to get a private setting where the lawyers could meet with Nadell.

Nadell, who is married to Peggy Nadell's son, allegedly killed the 80-year-old to gain access to her husband's share of the more than $4 million estate. Prosecutors and Clarkstown police say Diana Nadell's husband, James, was not aware of his wife's plans.