A jury didn't believe a defendant's claim that he was brainwashed into committing a brutal attack and instead convicted him of attempted murder. Jacob Nolan, 23, was found guilty of using a sledge hammer to bludgeon his cousin's ex-boyfriend in a Manhattan apartment building.

In November 2012, psychiatrist Michael Weiss was at his home/office on West 57th Street when Nolan, then 20, stopped by while Weiss was seeing another patient. During the visit, Nolan hit Weiss with a sledge hammer and then stabbed him multiple times. Nolan allegedly took bloody selfies while in Weiss's hallway.

Weiss believes that his ex-girlfriend, Pamela Buchbinder, who is Nolan's cousin, was behind the assault, because he had added her as a beneficiary to his $1.5 million life insurance policy (Buchbinder and Weiss have a son together). Nolan was staying with Buchbinder at this time and considered himself her son's "godfather."

Though Buchbinder has never been charged, she and Nolan were apparently in contact with each before and after Weiss's attack and surveillance images show her and Nolan buying a sledge hammer with cash at a Home Depot.

Further, Buchbinder allegedly drew Nolan a detailed map of Weiss's building floorplan. The NY Times reported on Nolan's conviction, noting:

"The defense argued that Mr. Nolan was not acting of his own volition. They said he had been programmed by Mr. Weiss’s former girlfriend...who was involved in a bitter custody battle with Mr. Weiss over their young son. [Defense attorney Steven] Brounstein contended Ms. Buchbinder had turned Mr. Nolan into a weapon, and he argued Mr. Nolan was so brainwashed that he did not understand the consequences of his actions, sitting down after the attack and taking bloody photos of himself rather than fleeing. 'He was putty,' Mr. Brounstein argued. 'He was sand in the hands of a master.'"

During the trial, Nolan's father said he really regrets his son living with Buchbinder.

Nolan faces a sentence of five to twenty-five years. According to the Post, "In December, a Family Court judge barred her from seeing her kid after ruling that she and Nolan plotted to murder Weiss."

Weiss is suing Nolan and Buchbinder for $5 million in damages.