The New York Times - Wednesday, January 3, 1996
George James

Justice Barbara Newman of State Supreme Court in Manhattan did not reveal why two psychiatrists at Bellevue Hospital found Angel Coro, 51, mentally incompetent; such court-ordered exams are not public.

Should the determination stand, it would mean that instead of facing trial and a possible prison sentence, Mr. Coro would instead be sent back to a psychiatric hospital. He has already escaped from several.

A lawyer for the victim's family said yesterday that it was urgent for Mr. Coro to submit to a blood test because, the lawyer said, Mr. Coro told each psychiatrist in separate interviews that the victim, Colete Lopez, had rabies.

The lawyer, Edward D. Fagan, said he would seek an order for an immediate test today before Justice Patricia P. Satterfield of State Supreme Court in Queens.

Justice Satterfield, who said last month that she would decide on the blood test in mid-January, is expected to rule today on whether to release Mr. Coro's medical records from state mental hospitals.

Colete's parents, Sigfredo and Magdalena Lopez, have been seeking to have Mr. Coro tested for H.I.V. since the Dec. 2 attack on Colete. Under present law, testing can be ordered only in cases of rape.

According to a court paper released yesterday, Mr. Coro told the police he had found the hypodermic needles in the garbage.

"I want Mr. Coro tested immediately," Mr. Fagan said. "We're not dealing in abstractions anymore."

But Mr. Coro's lawyer, Richard Siracusa, questioned Mr. Fagan's interpretation of the remarks. Mr. Coro "is totally irrational," Mr. Siracusa said. "To give any credence to what he's saying is really stretching the limits of truth."

The Manhattan District Attorney's office will now review the psychiatric report to decide whether to rebut it and have Mr. Coro retested.

Mr. Fagan said that when a psyciatrist asked Mr. Coro what would happen if he were found guilty, Mr. Coro replied: "I can get you a lot of troubles. The girl has rabies."

When a second psychiatrist asked Mr. Coro to state the charges against him, he again said something to the effect that the girl had rabies.

But Mr. Siracusa said the remarks were not to be taken literally.

"He didn't precisely say who had rabies," Mr. Siracusa said. "He never said he had rabies. He never said who precisely had rabies."

After the court session, the Lopezes said they were tired of waiting for the blood tests. "We've suffered enough," said Mr. Lopez, a custodial worker. They said they wanted Mr. Coro in prison, convicted of the attack on their daughter, and not in a mental institution, especially given his record of escapes over the years.

"If he's going to where he escaped from before," Mr. Lopez said, "maybe he'll do it again."

January 4, 1996, Thursday

Correction: January 4, 1996, Thursday

An article yesterday about the man accused of stabbing a girl with a hypodermic needle on the subway misidentified the judge in the case. She is Acting State Supreme Court Justice Laura E. Drager, not Barbara Newman, who is a Criminal Court judge in Manhattan.

In some editions, the article also misidentified the person that the lawyer for the girl's family wants to have tested for possible infectious diseases. The lawyer, Edward D. Fagan, said he wanted the suspect, Angel Coro, tested, not the victim, Colete Lopez.

ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS), HYPODERMIC NEEDLES ANDSYRINGES; CHILDREN AND YOUTH; ASSAULTS; MENTAL HEALTH AND DISORDERS, SUBWAYS, TRANSIT SYSTEMS TRANSPORTATION & SHIPPING (76%), JAMES, GEORGE; CORO, ANGEL; LOPEZ, COLETE, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, NY, USA (59%);
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