Hostage Suspect's Attorney: "It Was A Cry For Help"
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The man who allegedly held a local businessman at knife point was in court on Wednesday.
Klein Michael Thaxton refused to surrender for five hours.
And this morning, his lawyer called the whole thing "a cry for help."
Klein Michael Thaxton told his attorney that he was hearing voices, telling him to harm people and that at one point a crow spoke to him and directed him to Three Gateway Center.
"The crow, he said, talked to him," said Thaxton's lawyer, Blaine Jones. "A crow man, a crow."
During the preliminary hearing, Charles Breitsman spoke about the five-and-half hour ordeal where he was held hostage in his office on the 16th floor of Three Gateway Center.
Breitsman mentioning how they tussled over the knife, that Thaxton allegedly pulled and how that knife was held less than an inch from his eye.
Meanwhile, Thaxton scribbled notes to his attorney.
When asked by KDKA's Heather Abraham what Thaxton was writing, his attorney said, "Just questions. He took an active part in his defense."
"He said look, I shook his hand at the end," Jones continued. "It's not about him. I'm hurting (Thaxton said)."
When asked about an insanity defense, Jones said Thaxton is suffering from a cocktail of mental disorders.
"The facts are the facts," Jones said. "My client suffers from schizophrenia, bipolar and depression. On that morning, he was not taking his medication and it was a cry for help."
Thaxton is in police custody on $1 million bond.
His first formal arraignment will be Dec. 5.
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