Prosecutors say the New Jersey man accused of stalking Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel and dragging him off a hotel elevator has changed his plea back to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Eric Hunt wasn't in court Thursday when his lawyer made the new plea to charges of attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery, stalking, elder abuse and hate crimes stemming from the incident at San Francisco's Argent Hotel.

Hunt, who is 23 and has been jailed in a psychiatric unit since his February arrest, dropped his original insanity plea and simply pleaded not guilty this summer as his defense lawyer tried unsuccessfully to get the case moved to a court for mentally ill offenders.

His felony trial has been scheduled for next March.

— Bay City News