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Boston man pleads not guilty to murder in art collector’s hit-and-run death
“It’s an incredibly tragic case that is about mental illness,” an attorney for William Haney said.
A 42-year-old Boston man pleaded not guilty to murder and animal cruelty charges Monday in the hit-and-run death of prominent art collector John Axelrod, who was struck and killed while walking his dog in the Back Bay over the weekend.
William R. Haney Jr. was held without bail following his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court. He was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation to determine whether he’s competent to stand trial, court records show.
Authorities allege Haney intentionally struck 79-year-old Axelrod with his car near the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Hereford Street around 8 a.m. Saturday. He allegedly drove onto the Commonwealth Avenue Mall and fled the scene after mowing the philanthropist down.
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Axelrod was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, Boston police said. His dog was also killed in the collision.
Laying out the state’s timeline in court Monday, Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight accused Haney of deliberately targeting Axelrod. According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Knight alleged that evidence shows the fatal crash was not an accident, but a “deliberate and premeditated murder with the defendant using his Toyota SUV as the murder weapon.”
Prosecutors say Haney stopped near the Commonwealth Avenue Mall to ask a passerby if he had seen a man in a red jacket and his dog, and the passerby pointed toward Massachusetts Avenue. According to the DA’s office, a witness described seeing Haney drive slowly down Commonwealth Avenue before speeding up to strike Axelrod and his dog.
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Haney allegedly stopped at a Beacon Street Dunkin’ afterward to discard Axelrod’s dog leash, which had become stuck on the front of his vehicle. Prosecutors say he unsuccessfully tried to solicit repairs at a service station before ultimately abandoning the SUV at an intersection in Brookline and meeting up with his brother.
The siblings then went to the Brookline police station, where Haney’s brother told police Haney had been in an accident.
Yet while prosecutors allege Haney acted intentionally, defense attorney Keith Halpern said his client was “delusional” at the time and “had no idea who Mr. Axelrod was.”
Haney has struggled with his mental health for most of his life and suffers from schizophrenia, Halpern explained in a brief phone interview. While Haney had been doing well on antipsychotics, he had to switch medications due to complications and struggled to find a new drug that worked for him, according to Halpern.
He said Haney’s condition had “deteriorated” in the months leading up to Saturday’s collision.
“It’s an incredibly tragic case that is about mental illness,” Halpern said. “It’s not about anything else.”
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He also said Haney’s family is “incredibly sorry and wants to express their sympathy to Mr. Axelrod’s family and how sorry they are.”
Halpern said his client was “completely delusional” during Monday’s court appearance and didn’t have “any real understanding” as to why he was there — an observation he said was confirmed by a clinician who addressed the court.
According to The Boston Globe, the clinician also said Haney expressed paranoid delusions during their conversation and was “smiling, looking around the room constantly, as if he was hearing auditory hallucinations.”
Haney’s next court date is Jan. 23.
Axelrod was a longtime supporter and honorary advisor of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, where a gallery was named in his honor.
“A generous supporter and passionate advocate for underrepresented artists, John had been a part of the MFA family since the 1980s,” the museum said in a statement. “His legacy will live on at the Museum through the John Axelrod Collection — a transformative acquisition of nearly 70 works by Black artists.”
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden extended his condolences to Axelrod’s family, describing the art collector as a “man devoted to enlightening society through his support of the arts, particularly by his outstanding donations of artworks by diverse and underrepresented painters and illustrators.”
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