The unhinged man accused of stabbing two Museum of Modern Art employees in a fit of rage is on his “deathbed” at a New York City hospital, according to his attorney — who is looking to have the case tossed, The Post has learned.
Gary Cabana, 62, may not make it after being diagnosed with throat cancer over a year ago, his lawyer, Arnold P. Keith, was heard telling a prosecutor in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday.
“He’s at a point now where he can’t even be treated,” Keith later added to The Post. “The last time I saw him, he was in really bad shape.”
Cabana, an “artsy kind-of-guy,” per his lawyer, is accused of hopping over a reception desk and knifing two workers at MoMA after he was turned away from a screening of “Bringing Up Baby” on March 12, 2022.
He was on the lam for days — all the while issuing taunting messages online — before he was arrested in Philadelphia and later extradited to New York and charged with attempted murder and assault.
Cabana’s attorney said he filed a “Clayton” motion in August 2023 — which is a request to dismiss the case in the interest of justice — after his client’s cancer got worse.
“There’s a couple of cases that talk about a person or the accused of being on their deathbed, and that’s what we have here,” Keith said.
Cabana wasn’t in court for the scheduled Wednesday hearing before Judge Gregory Carro, when his lawyer told a Manhattan assistant district attorney that the accused stabber was “on his deathbed.”
Keith told The Post it would be a “miracle” if Cabana was ever healthy enough to appear in court again.
Cabana has shed weight while seeking treatment for cancer at Bellevue Hospital, losing at least 35 to 40 pounds since his incarceration, according to his attorney — who added that Cabana recently had tubes removed from his stomach that were feeding him medicine.
Before the attack, Cabana’s museum membership had been revoked due to other outbursts, police said at the time.
Surveillance footage showed Cabana jumping over a reception desk and stabbing two horrified employees multiple times in the back, neck and torso, according to prosecutors.
Both were rushed to Bellevue Hospital and later recovered from the injuries.
Just two months before the attack, Cabana allegedly punched the manager of the Nederlander Theater on West 41st Street after he was fired from his job as an usher at the Broadway theater.
He was also charged with arson for allegedly torching a Best Western hotel room in Philadelphia when he was arrested there following a manhunt, cops said at the time.
While on the lam, the fugitive was active on social media, posting odd messages and even sending direct messages to a New York Post employee, in which he claimed he “lost it” at the MoMA when employees refused to let him see Vincent Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Starry Night.”
Cabana’s attorney said that his string of alleged crimes coincided with the isolation of the COVID pandemic that caused Cabana to “snap” because he wasn’t on the right medication at the time.
Cabana is bipolar and his medications changed before the museum attack, his attorney said.
“I’ve spoken to him when he was lucid — this guy is tremendous. Very smart, very nice, very respectful. This is a tragedy,” Keith said, adding that Cabana enjoyed museums and old films.
Cabana earned a Bachelor’s degree and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia before later earning Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from Missouri State University, according to his attorney.
His attorney said there’s no denying the caught-on-camera MoMA attack but believes it could have been avoided had Cabana gotten the right help before the crime spree.
“He’s mentally ill. His medication changed. He wasn’t being properly medicated,” Keith said.
“It was one event after another. All these things happened in a month. It’s sad.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said that the case remains open and pending.
The next hearing is set for June 5.
