Accused Serial Stabber's Mental Health Still In Question
FLINT (WWJ/AP) - Mental-health issues still are unresolved in the case of a man charged with killing or seriously injuring nine people during a stabbing spree in the Flint area.
Elias Abuelazam's lawyer says an independent exam requested by the defense is not finished. The prosecution's expert has completed a report but it is sealed.
A Genesee County judge got an update Thursday and told both sides to return to court on May 26.
The issue is whether experts believe Abuelazam's mental health last summer could lead to an insanity defense.
Fourteen people were stabbed, five fatally, in the Flint area last summer. Abuelazam is charged with three counts of murder and five attempted murders in Michigan, and an attempted murder in Ohio. He is suspected in attacks in Virginia.
Thus far, Abuelazam has been ordered to trial in three fatal stabbings and six more attacks in which the victims survived.
Abuelazam has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was arrested Aug. 11 at the airport it Atlanta as he was about to board a plane to Tel Aviv.
No trial dates are set.
Prosecutor David Leyton said the first murder trial likely would involve one of the two cases with DNA evidence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
