Suspect in attack of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel pleads insanity

SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The man accused of attacking Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and dragging him from an elevator in the Argent Hotel on Feb. 1 pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday to six felony counts.

Eric Hunt, 22, is “not a holocaust denier and not a Nazi sympathizer, but is a young man who had a previously undiagnosed psychiatric disorder,” Hunt’s lawyer, John Runfola, said after the hearing.

Following the attack, a post appeared with Hunt’s name on an anti-Semitic Web site, stating that he accosted Wiesel in an elevator, hoping to drag him to his room and persuade him to admit that his acclaimed holocaust account, “Night,” was untrue.