Defense attorneys for the 57-year-old Manhattan man arrested in connection with the hammer attack on a New York City Health Department employee say prosecutors are charging the wrong man.
The defense attorney found his client William Blount not guilty Friday in Queens County Criminal Court.
“He is not the person who did this,” the defense said. However, when asked after the hearing about Blount’s alibi at the time of the February 24 attack, the lawyers declined to elaborate.
Blount limped into the Queens courtroom on Friday morning, apparently as a result of breaking both ankles more than twenty years ago in an attempt to escape from a South Carolina prison.
Law enforcement officials have said the man has a long criminal history spanning several decades and multiple states.
The 57-year-old’s crimes in New York City date back to 1993, and the attack on the subway at Long Island City’s Queens Plaza station marks the most recent indictment against him.
Blount allegedly attacked Nina Rothschild, a 57-year-old researcher with the city’s Health Department, as she walked into a Queens subway station one night after work.
The man hit her from behind with a cane before kicking her down the stairs and hitting her on the head with a hammer to rob her.
Rothschild was hospitalized in critical condition with a skull fracture and brain hemorrhage. His brother told News 4 after the attack that he was doing better after emergency surgery to repair the fracture.
Blount’s history includes kidnappings, robberies and drug crimes in New York City and South Carolina dating back to the early 1980s.
He was sentenced to 20 years for kidnapping, 15 years for burglary, and five years (to run concurrently) for committing a felony of violence with a firearm in a case in which he and his brother broke into a Bojangles in South Carolina in 2000 and kidnapped two employees, causing one to open the safe.
Blount attempted to escape while serving that sentence, South Carolina police said. It occurred during the murder of a guard by other inmates in the midst of a larger breakout plot on September 17, 2000.
Blount attempted to join the breakout by jumping from the roof of the prison, but broke both of his ankles in the process. He was caught and charged with conspiracy to escape, in addition to the other crimes for which he was jailed.
Blount is charged with attempted murder, robbery and assault in the subway hammer case. Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino continued the pre-trial detention and set the next hearing date for April 11.
A second person, Denise Alston, 57, was also arrested after police said she made a $19 purchase with a credit card bearing the victim’s name. Police also said other credit cards, store cards and a New York City identification card belonging to Rothschild were found in Alston’s wallet.
Both Blount and Alston were named in the same indictment, District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Friday. Blount faces 25 years in prison and Alston faces four years, if either is convicted.
Dr. Dave Chokshi, a former city health commissioner, called the attack “horrific.”
“Nina has worked tirelessly in service to her fellow New Yorkers and is truly a public health hero,” Chokshi said. “The Health Department and I will do everything we can to support her recovery, and we ask all New Yorkers to keep her and her family in mind while respecting her privacy during this difficult time.”
The horrific attack came less than a week after Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul jointly announced a new subway security initiative designed both to mitigate recent spikes in violence on the transit system and intensify the reach of the homeless as the city seeks to encourage a post-COVID rebound in subway use.
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