STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Attorneys for Damien Hurstel have notified the court of their intention to pursue a defense “by reason of mental disease or defect,” after the defendant was indicted last week by a grand jury on charges he brutally murdered and then decapitated his mother’s live-in boyfriend inside the family’s West Brighton home.

On Friday, prior to an arraignment hearing before Justice Raymond Rodriguez in state Supreme Court, St. George, defense attorney Mark Fonte spoke extensively with his client for the first time in a private setting. He said Hurstel was monotone and unemotional throughout the conversation.

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