A state court has ruled that the organization that provided housing to a mental patient who stabbed a baby in a stroller is not liable for the 2005 attack.

The crime, perpetrated by Bernard Derr, occurred in Washington Heights. At the time, Mr. Derr was living in a residential program run by a group that is under contract with New York City, the Federation Employment and Guidance Service.

The father of Isabella Avins, who was 10 months old when she was stabbed, sued the group, claiming that its staff should have noticed Mr. Derr’s erratic and angry behavior in the run-up to the attack, and that Mr. Derr was accumulating knives.

In a 4-1 decision, a state appellate court in Manhattan found that Federation Employment and Guidance Service could not be sued over the attack. While the residential housing program is primarily for people with a history of mental health problems, the court found that the housing program was not responsible for providing medical care or “to control the conduct of a resident.”

The majority opinion, written by Judge Richard Andrias, reversed a lower court decision that held the group liable for negligent supervision.

In a dissent, Judge David Saxe, wrote that the “defendants had some right and ability to monitor their client’s conduct and take appropriate actions, but failed to do so.”

In 2006, a state judge found Mr. Derr to be mentally unfit to stand trial and ordered him to a state mental health center. Mr. Derr had told the court that he committed the crime because his roommates had been “getting on my nerves.”

Mr. Derr took a knife outside “and stabbed the baby in the stroller because I had to kill something,” he said in a statement filed with the court.

Lawyers involved in the case could not be reached yesterday afternoon.