Mar 21, 2008 4:09 pm US/Pacific
Trial Date Set In SF Attack On Nobel Winner Wiesel
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
AP
A judge has set a trial date for the man accused of accosting Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel at a San Francisco hotel last year, amid speculation that a possible settlement in the case could be reached.
Judge Kay Tsenin said Friday the trial for 23-year-old Eric Hunt of New Jersey would begin Aug. 15 in San Francisco Superior Court. She also scheduled a pre-trial hearing for April 10, while attorneys discuss the possibility of a plea deal.
Hunt has pleaded not guilty to six felony charges stemming from the Feb. 1, 2007 incident at San Francisco's Argent Hotel.
According to prosecutors, Hunt confronted Wiesel in an elevator at the hotel during a conference Wiesel was attending. Hunt reportedly asked Wiesel for an interview but then allegedly tried to force him into Hunt's hotel room.
Wiesel yelled for help and Hunt fled but was arrested in New Jersey about two weeks later, after allegedly bragging about the encounter on a Web site promulgating Holocaust denial. Wiesel was not physically injured in the attack, police said.
Prosecutors charged Hunt with an assortment of charges, including attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery, elder abuse, and stalking. Attached to each charge is a special allegation of hate crimes.
Hunt's attorney, John Runfola, claims his client was having an undiagnosed psychotic breakdown when he stalked the Holocaust survivor and dragged him out of the hotel elevator.
Hunt has been held in the San Francisco County Jail's psychiatric ward since his arrest.
"I'm just trying to get a fair disposition for someone with an undiagnosed psychiatric condition," Runfola said outside the courtroom.
Runfola cited recent reports from psychiatrists and psychologists on Hunt's mental condition, "all detailing the fact that Mr. Hunt is not a Nazi but is undiagnosed bipolar," he said.
According to Runfola, Hunt thought "he was going to prevent World War III with Iran after proving that the Holocaust was a lie." He then expected to be elected president, Runfola said.
He described Hunt Friday as "embarrassed about what he did" and "nervous about the (court) process" and the jail environment he is in.
Runfola added that he spoke with Wiesel recently in New York about "some type of negotiated disposition" in the case.
According to Runfola, Wiesel reportedly expressed "tremendous respect for the justice system" and said he "would be comfortable with whatever the judge decides, together with input from the defense attorney and the district attorney."
Wiesel, 79, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps during World War II and author of the acclaimed memoir "Night,'' received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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