Insanity Plea Denied for Murder Suspect : Attorney Accused in Death of Girl, 6, Can Try Later, Judge Says

A lawyer on trial for beating to death his illegally adopted daughter today was denied permission to change his plea to innocent by reason of insanity, but the judge said his request could be renewed later.

The request by Joel Steinberg, accused of murdering 6-year-old Lisa Steinberg, came in the midst of testimony by the man’s former live-in lover.

Prosecutors opposed the request, and state Supreme Court Justice Harold Rothwax turned it down, but with the stipulation that Steinberg’s lawyers could renew it later if affidavits from psychiatrists were included.

Steinberg’s lawyer, Ira London, told Rothwax that new information derived from the testimony of Hedda Nussbaum prompted the change in strategy.

London said that psychiatrists who examined Steinberg earlier this year had initially not believed Steinberg was mentally incapacitated but that Nussbaum’s testimony, coupled with their interviews with the defendant, would now allow them to testify that Steinberg lacked criminal responsibility in the girl’s death.

Nussbaum, 46, who lived with Steinberg for 17 years, testified last week that Steinberg admitted to her that he had “knocked Lisa down” because she was staring at him.

Lisa was taken unconscious from Steinberg’s apartment the morning of Nov. 2, 1987, to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where she died of head injuries three days later.

Beaten, Starved, Humiliated

Nussbaum also testified that she herself had been beaten, starved and humiliated by Steinberg.

The death of Lisa in an affluent, well-educated household shocked many New Yorkers and led to a re-examination of the duty and ability of neighbors, teachers and social workers to recognize and report evidence of child abuse.

One of the jurors today admitted that he had seen a newspaper headline trumpeting critical comments by Mayor Edward I. Koch about Steinberg and had heard talk about the article’s contents. But he said he had not mentioned it to other jurors and did not believe that it would affect his ability to be impartial.

After speaking to the juror, Rothwax, the trial judge, decided to let him remain on the panel.

In regard to the change of plea, Rothwax pointed out that an application to present an insanity defense must normally be filed before trial begins and within 30 days after a defendant pleads guilty to the indictment.

But the judge noted that “for good cause shown and in the interests of justice,” the court has discretion to permit an insanity defense to be presented at any time after an indictment.