Insanity plea for son in mom's NYC beating death

NEW YORK - A New York City man who beat his mother to death in the aftermath of an epileptic seizure is headed for treatment after prosecutors agreed he couldn't comprehend what he was doing when he killed her.

Henry Wachtel on Monday pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease. The Manhattan district attorney's office assented.

Under such pleas, defendants can be held in mental hospitals until a judge okay's release, if ever.

For now, Wachtel is going instead to a residential therapeutic program. He's due back in court in May.

The 21-year-old told a judge he has "no memory of the events immediately surrounding" his mother's 2012 death.

Karyn Kay, a 62-year-old teacher, was bludgeoned to death while she was on the phone with a 911 operator calling for help for her son, Wachtel, then a student at Fordham University, who was having an epileptic fit.

The struggle between Kay and her son was caught on the 911 recording, including Wachtel's anguished cry, "Mommy, Mommy, please don't die," reported CBS New York.

A judge once described the case as "painfully unique."

Prosecutors say medical experts found Wachtel was in a state in which he couldn't understand the nature or consequences of his actions.