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Westchester Murder Suspect May Seek Insanity Defense

SCARSDALE, N.Y. - Julius "Jules" Reich, the man that allegedly committed the first homicide in Scarsdale in nearly four decades, may seek a psychiatric defense after pleading not guilty to stabbing his wife to death in March.

Jules Reich and Robin Goldman Reich.

Jules Reich and Robin Goldman Reich.

Photo Credit: LinkedIn
Julius Reich, of Scarsdale, is being held at the Westchester County Jail without bail.

Julius Reich, of Scarsdale, is being held at the Westchester County Jail without bail.

Photo Credit: Scarsdale Police
Scarsdale resident Julius Reich is charged with second-degree murder.

Scarsdale resident Julius Reich is charged with second-degree murder.

Photo Credit: Westchester County Department of Corrections
Robin Goldman Reich

Robin Goldman Reich

Photo Credit: Montefiore.org

According to reports, during an appearance in Westchester County Court on Tuesday, the 62-year-old’s lawyers pronounced their intention to provide psychiatric evidence exonerating their client.

Shortly after 10 a.m. on Jan. 20, first-responders from the police department and Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps rushed to 50 Lincoln Road when Reich, 61, alerted them that a woman had been “seriously injured” during an emergency 9-1-1 call.

Police arrested Reich immediately, and the paramedics found Goldman, a prominent pediatrician in Manhattan, “in a lifeless state” after suffering stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Reportedly, after killing his wife, Reich walked to the kitchen, leaving a trail of blood and smoked a cigarette before alerting police. Allegedly, he later joked with responding officers while he was detained.

According to acting Westchester County District Attorney James McCarty, Reich stabbed Goldman 22 times with an eight-inch kitchen knife, wounding her in the hands, chest abdomen and back. The 58-year-old victim suffered puncture wounds to her lung, heart, diaphragm, liver and kidney during the attack.

“In what can only be described as an ambush, the defendant, as alleged int he indictment, entered the bathroom while his wife was showering and repeatedly stabbed her to death,” he said. “The two were in the process of divorcing, but remained living in the same residence.”

Barry Goldstein , a former Eastchester attorney who now lives in Teaneck, N.J., has been “working for the domestic violence movement since 1983.” For more than 30 years, he was a board member for My Sister’s Place, serving four of those as chairman. He has written five books on the subject, and is currently the research director for the Stop Abuse Campaign .

“There’s a popular misconception that this doesn’t happen in wealthy communities, and that just isn’t true. It just gets hidden better there, so it’s not shocking that this would happen in Scarsdale,” he said. “When you’re dealing with an abuser that is wealthy and powerful, it’s much harder to leave or to protect yourself.”

Goldstein noted that 75 percent of domestic violence homicides are the result of the conclusion of relationships, citing the Hochman murder-suicide in Harrison last year.

“The most dangerous abusers are not the ones that have committed the most serious assaults in the past, but the ones that believe the woman has no right to leave,” he said. “Three out of four domestic violence homicides are women murdered in the process of leaving."

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