New York (CNN) -- The lawyer for the man charged with kidnapping and killing an 8-year-old boy in Brooklyn last summer says inbreeding is partially to blame for his client's actions.
In July, police found 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky's remains divided between a freezer in Levi Aron's attic apartment and a trash bin more than two miles away. The boy had asked Aron for directions after getting lost on his seven-block walk home from summer camp, police said. It was his first time making the trip alone.
Kletzky died after being drugged and then smothered, New York City's chief medical examiner said after an autopsy in July.
"We have reason to believe" inbreeding occurred in Aron's family, defense attorney Howard Greenberg told CNN Wednesday. Asked what proof of inbreeding he had, Greenberg said he had "anecdotal evidence in talking to the family," but declined to elaborate.
A status conference in the case was held Wednesday. Both sides discussed the turning over of discovery materials at the pretrial hearing, Greenberg said.
Asked how inbreeding might lead someone to murder, the attorney said he is "not a medical doctor," but believes that inbreeding "can result in certain kinds of mental defects." Aron pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in August, according to Greenberg.
Schizophrenia and brain trauma also factored into Aron's actions, Greenberg contended to CNN.
Aron has a family history of schizophrenia, Greenberg said. His sister committed suicide as a result of the mental illness, according to the attorney.
And at a young age Aron suffered a brain-damaging fall from a bicycle, Greenberg said.
"He's virtually catatonic each and every time I have (been) called upon to deal with him," Greenberg said of his client's mental condition.
A mental evaluation of Aron in August found that he was fit to stand trial.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March.
Greenberg declined to say whether he would raise the issue of inbreeding at trial, emphasizing that the defense team would continue to investigate that angle in the coming months. He did not specify what form that investigation would take.
If convicted, Aron could face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
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