He made a conscious decision to kill the child. He’s admitted as much. Based on what’s reported of his confession, he knew what he did was wrong when he did it, and was not under any sort of cognitive misapprehension which gives rise to an insanity defense. If New York had a working death penalty statute, this case would cry out for that sentence. As to the Tookie Williams problem, this is why Halacha mandates execution the same day as the verdict, so as to not allow the creation of such dilemmas.
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