Alleged Murderer Can Stand Trial

The man accused of brutally murdering a recent Harvard graduate in broad daylight last November was found competent to stand trial by a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge Tuesday.

Judge Teresa Carr Deni ruled that Nader Ali, whom witnesses saw beat Lea F. Sullivan ’01 with a baseball bat after she emerged from a Philadelphia Whole Foods store, is fit to participate in a preliminary hearing set for March 16.

If prosecutors demonstrate at the hearing that there is sufficient evidence to pursue the charges, the trial’s outcome will depend on whether defense attorneys can convince a jury that Ali’s previously diagnosed mental conditions rendered him incapable of forming the specific intent to kill.

On Nov. 7, witnesses saw Ali emerge from his car wearing a ski mask and bludgeon Sullivan, his former classmate at Jefferson Medical College, for 15 seconds before fleeing the scene. Onlookers recorded the car’s license plate number, and he was arrested at his parents’ New Jersey residence the following morning. Police said they found the alleged murder weapon in his car.

Sullivan died at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital that afternoon.

Ali was placed on leave from medical school last spring due to “an extreme change in behavior,” according to a statement from Thomas Jefferson University. Reports following his arrest painted him as emotionally disturbed and increasingly unstable.

Ali’s lawyers told the Associated Press that his mental problems began after an injury last spring. His increasingly self-destructive behavior—banging his head against walls, for example—precipitated the school’s decision, they said.

In August, Ali was committed to a mental hospital and diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder, psychosis and schizophrenia, according to several newspaper reports. His father appeared on television, saying, “It is not a secret that he has bipolar” disorder.

Ali’s parents were not immediately available for comment.

Nino Tinari, one of Ali’s defense lawyers, said that these prior incidents will support a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

“Our defense is one of mental health,” he said. “At the time of this incident, he did not know the nature of his act.”

This does not mean that Tinari is seeking an acquittal for his client.

Under Pennsylvania law, there are two types of insanity defense. The first mandates a two-pronged test: the accused must not have understood the nature and quality of his actions, or the wrongfulness of his actions.

But Tinari said he is considering employing a formulation called “diminished capacity.” According to Caroline Roberto, former president of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, if certain “cognitive dysfunctions”—bipolar disorder and depression with anxiety among them—prevented someone from forming the “specific intent to kill,” charges can be reduced from first to third degree murder.

Roberto expressed surprise that Ali’s lawyers had requested his transfer to a hospital—a move Tinari says will ensure that Ali takes his antipsychotic medications.

“He is a sick guy,” Tinari said.

But Roberto is “always nervous about hospitals getting a hold of my clients,” she said. “If I’m thinking maybe I can get it from first to third under diminished capacity, I get a psychologist to say, ‘Yes, he’s bipolar, and it affects his cognition.’”

She said a defense lawyer would be required to notify the prosecutor that he is raising this defense as soon as possible, and that the prosecution would then have the right to interview the defendant—effectively eliminating the accused’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Roberto said Ali’s medical history would help such a defense. “But it’s not a slam dunk,” she said.

Thomas Malone, the Assistant District Attorney assigned to the case, dismissed the possibility that Ali’s medical history will shield him from prosecution for first degree murder.

“If you walked down the street, you’d pass 15, maybe 100 people who you didn’t know were diagnosed with something,” Malone said. “That doesn’t mean they’re criminally insane, and it doesn’t mean [Ali] is criminally insane.”

He added, “and he wasn’t criminally insane.”

Malone said he was confident that he would be able to overcome either of the insanity defenses. He said he could prove that Ali understood the nature and quality of his actions and the wrongfulness of his actions.

He said that Ali’s actions before, during and after the crime reflect the ability to form specific intent.

“There was forethought galore, there was planning, the attempt to disguise his appearance, the effort to evade capture,” he said.

Sullivan’s parents declined to speak with reporters, but have established The Lea Fohrder Sullivan Scholarship Fund for Women Medical Students at Thomas Jefferson University in her memory.

Phyllis Fisher, director of public relations for Thomas Jefferson University, declined comment, citing the Sullivan family’s request for privacy. She said the Jefferson Medical College Dean’s office and Sullivan’s friends will be selling a memorial pin to raise money for the scholarship fund.

—Staff writer Daniel L. Wagner can be reached at dwagner@fas.harvard.edu.