(CNN) The man accused of barging into a rabbi's Monsey, New York, home and stabbing five people at a Hanukkah party with a machete has a "long history of mental illness and hospitalizations," his family and attorney said.

Grafton Thomas, 37, has suffered from depression and psychosis for years, said his lawyer, Michael Sussman, and was hospitalized several times in 2019.

Sussman said he's talked to Thomas since his arrest. Thomas said that on the night of the stabbings, he heard a "voice talking to him about a piece of property that he understood was in that house," Sussman told CNN. But Sussman did not say what kind of property Thomas was looking for.

Thomas talked about "various auditory hallucinations and one might say 'demons, ' " Sussman said. "His explanations were not terribly coherent."

Thomas's family issued a statement saying in part, "We believe the actions of which he is accused, if committed by him, tragically reflect profound mental illness for which. ... Grafton has received episodic treatment before being released."

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