Rapper Kidd Creole plans to offer a psychiatric defense at his upcoming murder trial for the fatal stabbing of a homeless man, court papers reveal.
Attorneys for the founding member of legendary hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five made the admission in a Manhattan Supreme Court motion filed Tuesday.
“The defense gives notice that at the defendant’s trial the defense intends to present psychiatric evidence of mental disease or defect,” wrote lawyer Patrick Watts.
The papers do not specify the nature of the mental illness that the rapper — whose real name is Nathaniel Glover — suffered from when he allegedly murdered grifter John Jolly, 55, in Midtown Aug. 1st.
Glover, 57, who is being held without bail, allegedly boiled over after he thought that Jolly had made a pass at him at East 43rd Street and Third Avenue, according to prosecutors.
“What’s up?” asked Jolly, prompting Glover to allegedly stab him in the chest twice with a steak knife, officials said.
Watts states in the papers that Glover “did not intentionally cause the death of John Jolly” and intends to testify on his own behalf.
The filing further asks Justice Maxwell Wiley to toss evidence seized from Glover’s Bronx home, including a white t-shirt, dress shirt and sweatshirt, arguing that authorities didn’t have a warrant.
The shocking crime highlighted the pioneering rapper’s descent from chart-topping artist into obscurity. Glover was working a maintenance job and living in a rundown Bronx rooming house at the time of his arrest.
A judge is expected to rule on the motion Dec. 18. Glover is charged with a single count of second-degree murder.