An attorney for accused child killer Levi Aron continued to push for an insanity defense Wednesday, describing his client as a diagnosed schizophrenic who suffered a head injury in his youth.
Lawyer Howard Greenberg went as far as to claim that inbreeding in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn — where the alleged murderer and his 8-year-old victim were from — could have contributed to a mental deficiency.
“It’s a very simple case: Levi Aron is either evil or he’s crazy,” Greenberg told reporters in Brooklyn Supreme Court after a brief hearing.
“He suffered a severe head injury as a young man. There’s a history of schizophrenia,” the lawyer said. “There’s inbreeding in that community.”
He asserted that relatives sometimes marry and procreate in tight-knit Jewish groups, risking genetic defects.
“That’s an aspect of his familial history,” Greenberg said of Aron, without elaborating.
The head trauma occurred when his client fell off a bike about the age of 10, he added.
Aron, 35, is charged with snatching little Leiby Kletzky off the street last July, holding him captive for more than a day and then killed him.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents Borough Park and has been in touch with Leiby’s family, called the lawyer “a pathetic figure.”
“It’s an insult to the community. It’s degrading,” he said of the inbreeding remark. “None of this is relevant. It has nothing to do with this situation and is only meant to distract us from the reality of the horrible act.”
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18 Responses
the inbreeding remark is extremely insensitive and unprofessional. if such a disgraceful thing is ever said in front of a jury they will fry his client.
What is there really to discuss about this creature.
Lock him up and throw away the key. Period.
So Mr. lawyer what is the solution ? should we let him walk and chas veshulem kidnap more children ?
I actually do think he is insane.
But, the lawyer is not being very nice. It seems like he’s trying to capitalize on goyim’s thinking that all chareidim, especially chassidim, are crazy anyway.
Mental difficiency (even if caused by an accident) isn’t a legal defense unless you can show he was too dumb to realize he was murdering someone, and attacking inbreeding will backfire, but schizophrenia is a good defense (especially if he can produce a doctor who thought he was meshuganah before he killed anyone). Of course if the doctor testifies that Aron was criminally insane, the doctor might have to explain to the licensing board why he didn’t do something other than give him drugs (Physician’s privilege doesn’t apply to a information about crimes the patient is going to do, only past actions).
comment 1)
Inbreeding common among chredim?
can he back that up?
of course not.
comment 2)
thank you ywn for not using a thumbnail of lavy aron.
Very well then, he shouldve had strict supervision all his life. Now it’s just too late.
Clearly a murder trial isnt the place but to discuss it but inbreeding is a real problem.
This is so ridiculous!
The guy functioned at work, throughout, and was sane enough to cover himself, by being at work, for hours straight and not saying a word to anyone about his crime! He was well thought out and totally in control!
Any “SANE” juror who will go along with this line of thinking, should have this on their conscience for the rest of their life!
If jurors buy this nonsense, they ought to be locked up, and the key thrown away, and demonstrated against. They are dangers to society!
Inbreeding??? Had he said that about a shucher would he have gotten away with it or would Al Not So Shaprton & Jesse Jackson been like an enema to him??
He’s a self hating Jew with a one way ticket you know where.
why don’t you all wake up and smell the coffe . this defense atorney is just trying to protect his cliant . if you are so concerned , then the next time you are called for jury duty , go and don’t try to wiggle out of it so that you can convict the criminal.
#11 is spot-on.
The lawyer has a legal obligation to act as a zealous advocate for his client, which often means throwing every conceivable and quarter-way plausible defense at the wall, and seeing what sticks.
The lawyer doesn’t necessarily believe it, but he’s has to ensure that he acts competently.
“the next time you are called for jury duty , go and don’t try to wiggle out of it so that you can convict the criminal”
I just did and there were many frum people, from ALL branches of Judaism! I saw it with my own eyes!
cleverjewishpun
What are you talking about??
#8 Inbreeding was just the lawyer’s tactic of distraction from the key issue which is: Was his client sane enough (despite his obviously mental illness)to understand what he was doing? The insanity defense does not work for all mentally ill people i.e. not all people under psychiatric care are held to be legally absolved of responsibility for their actions. Inbreeding in NOT a major issue in the chareidi community that needs to be dealt with other than in very limited circles (e.g. some Rebbeshe families that marrying amongst themselves over and over again)and even in these cases, genetic testing can be done via Dor Yeshorim or private testing for more unusual genetic diseases. We have enough challenges, let’s not divert the focus on non-issues! Let’s work on avodas hamiddos, bein adam lachaveiro, emunah and bitachon, making our tefillah a true avoda shebalev thus deepening our connection with Hakadosh Baruch Hu…
Jews are supposed to be smart, but from the above comments it does not seem so. The purpose of a lawyer is not to clarify the law, but to get his client the best deal. If the lawyer did not try to do this, he would not be a proper lawyer. So he is trying all possible methods to get a sentence other than death penalty. Farshtai?
lazerc…
New York State no longer has a death penalty, so it’s just a question of WHERE and under what conditions (isolation, etc.) this guy will be locked up for the rest of his life.
As long as the end result is that he gets locked up – either in prison, or in a mental hospital (see the example of John Hinkley, who shot President Reagan), for a very very long time, justice on this earth has been served. Let him meet his Maker at some point in the future, and true justice will be meeted out then.