THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170505
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Shaheen Malkamy, the former Old Dominion University student charged with stabbing his calculus instructor, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Thursday.
He entered not guilty pleas to malicious wounding in the stabbing and to two counts of assaulting sheriff's deputies while he was in custody after the attack.
Circuit Court Judge William F. Rutherford accepted the pleas and ordered Malkamy into the custody of the state's Department of Mental Health, which will conduct an evaluation. Rutherford will hear the results of the report April 12.
The judge's action came after he read a psychiatrist's report which said Malkamy was insane at the time of the offense and that his behavior could only be explained as a form of schizophrenia.
After the hearing, Malkamy, 22, was ordered to return to Central State Hospital in Petersburg, where he is receiving treatment.
On Thursday, he calmly and politely answered the judge's questions while two relatives sat nearby in the courtroom.
``The only thing I can say to you, Mr. Malkamy, is behave yourself,'' the judge told him. ``Don't get involved in anything like this again.''
``Yes, sir,'' Malkamy replied.
Malkamy was accused of leaping from his front-row seat and stabbing his instructor, Carl Panetta, in the shoulder on July 7, 1994. Panetta was standing at the front of the room working a calculus problem involving police cars and radar detectors.
Students said they saw Malkamy pull a 12-inch knife with a wooden handle and a six-inch blade from his yellow school bag and stab Panetta.
Students dragged Panetta from the classroom and applied first aid. Malkamy did not try to flee. When police arrived, Malkamy told them: ``I stabbed him.'' Panetta required 12 stitches to close the wound. ILLUSTRATION: Drawing
ALBA BRAGOLI/Illustration
Prosecutor Elizabeth Hovell, standing at left, and defense attorney
Eric Schwartz approach Judge William F. Rutherford on Thursday as
Shaheen Malkamy and two family members watch.
KEYWORDS: STABBING ASSAULT INJURIES TRIAL by CNB