Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced that the state Supreme Court upheld an application by the New York State Commissioner of Mental Health to retain Daniel Rakowitz at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Wards Island, an application supported by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Rakowitz was charged with the 1989 murder of his roommate, after which he confessed to cooking pieces of her body and attempting to dispose of her remains. In 1991 a jury found him not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect, otherwise known as the insanity defense. “This decision continues to protect the residents of New York,” said District Attorney Vance. “Two decades after the brutal murder and dismemberment of Monika Beerle, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office remains committed to keeping Daniel Rakowitz in a secure psychiatric facility. This case is an example of the Office’s ongoing work, particularly by our Special Litigation Bureau, to ensure publi...