Yefim Tsirinsky, the man who told cops that he smothered his mother with a pillow because she asked him to kill her, is backtracking a bit on that story. In a jailhouse interview with the Daily News, he said, "I made a mistake. There is nothing else to say." However, his lawyer is standing by his client's original story, saying, "My client loves his mother. This was a mercy killing." Tsirinsky has been charged with second-degree murder.
Tsirinsky's lawyer says the 86-year-old woman was on over a dozen medications and was frequently in pain, but neighbors say that is no excuse for her son's actions. One neighbor said, "You can't take the law into your own hands. The woman was 86 years old. Let her live. Even if she was getting old, taking a lot of meds, you don't do that. It's not normal." Another previously surmised, "I guess he just went off."
