The woman accused of shoving a 46-year-old man to his death at a Sunnyside subway platform last month has been indicted by a grand jury for second-degree murder as a hate crime and ruled mentally fit to stand trial, announced Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
At the time of her arrest, Erika Menendez, 31, allegedly told investigators that she pushed Corona resident Sunando Sen into the path of a No. 7 train at the 40th Street-Lowery Street station because she hates Hindus and Muslims and has been beating them up since 2001 when “they put down the twin towers.”
Witnesses said they saw Menendez muttering to herself before shoving Sen off the platform.
On Monday, the same day that she was indicted, it was also announced that, following a court-ordered psychiatric exam, Menendez had been deemed fit to stand trial.
Despite the ruling, Menendez’s lawyers are expected to argue that even though she is mentally fit enough to understand the charges against her, she wasn’t mentally sound when she committed the December 27 crime, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Menendez, who faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted, is scheduled to return to court on January 29.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
