Behind the scene efforts to reach a plea bargain agreement are underway involving Rabbi Eliezer Berland and the prosecution, Channel 2 News reports. Kikar Shabbos News adds there is also drama between the rabbi’s attorneys, citing attorney Ephraim Damri arrived in court last week carrying a power of attorney document signed by Rabbi Berland in which it stated all the other lawyers involved in the case are promptly dismissed, leaving Damri as his sole representative. The court ruled a special hearing will be held to address the dramatic change in the case, the dismissal of the entire legal team.
Kikar adds that Damri agrees to a plea bargain agreement that would compel the rabbi to serve 18 months in prison in exchange for omitting portions of the charges against him as well as softening the language of the more serious charges against him.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
What I can not understand in Rabbi Berland case is that if it is assur to be in a room alone with a woman, didn’t he have some one with him so that he should not be over on yechud?
Let that some one come forward and testify on his behalf…
#1 I guess NO ONE was in the room with him besides his lady-friend.
Doesn’t have to be in the same room, as long as the room can be accessed by another person.
If that is the plea bargain agreement let him go to prison for 18 months and let all the talk end. His Chassidim won’t abandon him and he will continue his good work after he’s out.If he committed any crime he probably learnt his lesson. I’m sure he doesn’t want a trial.
The Spinka Rebbe went to prison on white color crime charges and no one talks about it anymore. Was he guilty? Doubt it, at worst he may have been an accomplice under the law.
Even if the above piece of Gossip does have some purpose to it, it is still forbidden for us to accept it as absolutely true.
By the way, I am no big fan of his.
i agree with mdg
this is loshon harah and it does not belong on a frum website
I just read the article in Channel 2 and there is no mention of a 18 month prison agreement. But I wouldn’t find it hard to believe if there is a little truth to it. For those who know how things work in Israel. Many times it is better for the person to come to a plea bargain even for crimes which he never committed in order to lesson the prison term.
Remember Rav Berland is already being held for months without a trial and it doesn’t seem like anything is moving. So it would make sense for his lawyers to settle on “something” just in order to get a clear term.
Here is a quote from +972 magazine about why Israel plea bargains are so popular:
“As a result of this (remand until end of proceedings) policy, in most cases defendants are held in custody for the duration of their trial. Knowing that a trial will likely take longer than the prison sentence they would receive in a plea bargain, especially on minor charges, most defendants hasten to sign such plea bargains. All too often, the decision to detain a person is tantamount to conviction, since the defendant’s fate is sealed at the time the decision to remand in custody is made, rather than based on the evidence. In other words, a pretrial decision, remand in custody of a person who has not been convicted, routinely renders the judicial proceeding meaningless.”