By Dustin Brown
The lawyer representing a Long Island City producer who allegedly stabbed and dismembered an Afghan filmmaker in October said his client was suffering at the time from mental illness exacerbated by stress from Sept. 11.
Nathan Powell, 39, of 21-07 Borden Ave., pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Nassau County Court Jan. 23, where his lawyer Thomas Liotti indicated he plans to mount a psychiatric defense.
Powell was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence in connection with the Oct. 3 death of Jawed Wassel, whose film he produced.
He is currently being held without bail. If convicted, he could get a sentence of 25 years to life.
Wassel, 42, a Manhattan filmmaker originally from Afghanistan, had written and directed an autobiographical movie called “FireDancer” about the experience of Afghan refugees in America.
But the night before he was to attend the film’s Oct. 4 screening in Manhattan, he met Powell at his Long Island City apartment and they argued over Powell’s proceeds from the film.
“They had an agreement about funding, that agreement changed, then the men argued and Powell killed Wassel,” Det. Lt. Frank Guidice of the Nassau County Police Department said at the time.
In a police confession printed by Newsday, Powell said he exchanged blows with Wassel before striking him over the head and neck with a pool cue and then stabbing him in the back with a nearby knife. He then used a hacksaw to dismember the body, the printed confession said.
But according to Liotti, Powell was suffering from a previously undiagnosed mental illness, and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks “exacerbated, highlighted and inflamed the condition that he already had.”
Liotti said Wassel threatened Powell’s family and made anti-American comments, which “probably pushed him over the edge.”
Nassau County District Attorney spokesman Rick Hinshaw criticized the defense as “insulting to people who suffered from that tragedy who were not inclined, as a result, to go out and commit a violent act and to use it as a justification.”
Wassel’s dismembered body was discovered Oct. 4 by a Nassau County police officer who stopped Powell’s car near Bethpage State Park, where he had allegedly been looking to dump the remains, police said.
Police later found Wassel’s severed head in the freezer of Powell’s Borden Avenue apartment.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
