NEW YORK-
A mental patient who shoved an aspiring screenwriter to her death under a subway train in 1999 pleaded guilty to manslaughter Tuesday in a case that led to a state law allowing court-ordered treatment of mentally ill people living outside institutions.
Andrew Goldstein had been found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Kendra Webdale, but an appeals court overturned the conviction last December because of errors by the judge. Goldstein entered the guilty plea as both sides were preparing for a retrial.
Justice Carol Burkman said Goldstein would get 23 years behind bars at his sentencing next Tuesday.
Goldstein, a sometimes-violent schizophrenic who often did not take his anti-psychotic medicine, never denied that he shoved the 32-year-old Webdale. His lawyer argued that he was too mentally ill to understand the consequences of his actions.
Kendra’s Law, signed by Gov. George Pataki the year Webdale died, allows mental health authorities to supervise psychiatric patients who live outside institutions, to make sure that they are not dangerous and that they take their medication.
The trial would have been Goldstein’s third in the case. His first trial ended with a deadlocked jury.
