A Texas man charged with a federal hate crime for a “Knockout Game” attack against a 79-year-old black man is blaming mental health issues.
Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, of Katy, Texas, attacked the man “because of the man’s race and color” according to videos retrieved from Barrett’s phone.
Barrett’s attorney, George Parnham, told CNN that the court documents do not take into account his client’s mental health. Parnham refused to comment on whether his client participated in the attack. “mental health issues definitely played a part in anything that occurred,” he continued.
Barrett allegedly bragged about playing the knockout game, where participants attack an unsuspecting victim to knock them out while they are unaware of the attack. He then showed video of the November 24 attack to an off-duty investigator and his friend while in a restaurant.
Investigators retrieved other videos from Barrett’s phone that contain racial slurs and talk about working up the courage to play the knockout game. In one video he is heard saying, “the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?”
According to the investigator and prosecutors, Barrett approaches the victim and asks “How’s it going, man?” He then hit the man, knocking out three teeth and breaking his jaw in three places. Barrett then laughed and yelled “knockout,” before fleeing the scene.
This attack is the latest in a year full of “Knockout attacks” in which participants and victims have suffered major injuries and in one case – death.