Doctor: NY Rabbi Victor Koltun Faking Mental illness

 Rabbi Victor Koltun

GOSHEN, N.Y.  — A forensic psychiatrist says a Brooklyn rabbi accused in a murder-for-hire plot is faking symptoms of mental illness to avoid a trial.

Victor Koltun is awaiting trial on charges that he hired a pair of felons to kill a former policeman and his nephew in Newburgh two years ago.

The Times Herald-Record, of Middletown, reports that at a court hearing Friday, psychiatrist Alan Tuckman testified that Koltun was "malingering."

He said that during one evaluation, the rabbi appeared to be faking symptoms of mania, psychosis and memory problems.

Kolton's lawyers have argued that the rabbi isn't mentally competent.

The hearing is scheduled to continue in early September.

The two men Koltun is accused of having killed were found shot to death inside an abandoned building.