His lawyers think the accused butcher of Brooklyn boy Leiby Kletzky is “abnormal” and say he can’t stop hearing sinister voices in his head.
Levi Aron, 35, had trouble making eye contact and clammed up when confronted with uncomfortable questions, his lawyers said Monday.
“Physically, he seems to be doing okay,” defense lawyer Gerard Marrone said after a 2-1/2-hour meeting with Aron in the psych ward at Bellevue Hospital.
“All we can say at this time, without going into specifics, is that upon talking to him for quite some time there’s a severe diminished capacity.”
Lawyer Pierre Bazile said it will be up to psychologists to determine if Aron is fit to stand trial. “His demeanor can only be described as abnormal,” Bazile said without elaborating.
Aron, 35, confessed to one of the most heinous crimes in New York history, telling cops he killed 8-year-old Leiby in a panic over the massive search for the lost child.
Marrone and Bazile said they discussed numerous subjects with Aron, ranging from childhood to his ultra-Orthodox Jewish upbringing.
“He’s been hearing voices for quite some time,” Marrone said. “He tries to quell some of the voices by listening to music … He listens to it very loud.”
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20 Responses
He claims to have psych Issues, does he have a history of psych issues or are these just the creativity of a murderer.
Either way put him in general population in jail and they will deal with him accordingly. Kill a cop and in jail your a king, kill a kid and you are lower then dirt.
Whats INSANE about the current atmosphere of lessening the punishment of cold blooded murderers, who seemed well aware of what they were doing at their jobs and at covering up their crime, is that the innocent wll end up in fear, in cages, for protection, instead of the barbaric murderers.
Please mull over the first sentence in this article and correct the disturbing descrepency ASAP.
Insane people can be locked forever too.
I fully agree he is mentally retarded. BUT and I say BUT he is fully normal to stand trial. he knew what he was doing he is a rosho yms. You don’t just kill someone because of panic he will be found with you. he either molested him or who knows what and did not want kid to repeat and identify him. he must be locked up and key melted.
“had trouble making eye contact and clammed up when confronted with uncomfortable questions”
Does that make me insane as well? Last night my wife asked me,”Did you finish off the chocolate mousse cake that was left over from Shabbos?” I looked down and I clammed up.
Does that make me insane as well?
i agree w erbp
he obviously knew what he was doing was wrong… he killed the child and hid him to try and make the situation disappear and get away with it. someone in my husbands shul is brothers w the owner of the place aron use to work at. He told aron “lets go look for the boy” and he replied “where we going to find him?” he didnt think hed be busted from being caught by video cameras…..
he better go to trial there were many cases where kids under 18 commited murder bc they were afraid to get in trouble thinking if they murdered the person et would just go away….
I was pretty upset a/ the fact that he’d plead insanity and then would be locked away for 10 yrs and then be released BUT my therapist (who I went to because I am having a very hard time dealing with this situation) explained to me that a person can be mentally instable but if he knew right from wrong at that time he can still be found guilty of the charges.
This made me feel a little better and iy”H our judicial system will do the right thing and find him guilty.
May the jewish community as a whole share in many more simchas for now on!!!
“I looked down and I clammed up. Does that make me insane as well?”
Not insane, but maybe a ganev caught red-handed.
#6
Thanks for the hard laugh!! Didnt have this for a while! Keep it up!
If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, I believe the state can get money from medicare/medicaid for keeping him locked up (rather than having to do so solely on New York’s taxpayers account as would be the case in prison).
Remember a criminally insane person is locked up until he can prove he is “cured” (he’s presumed to still be insane until proven otherwise).
There is nothing more insane than the “Insanity Defense.”
In Halacha, even an ox that kill a man is executed–“V’es Habehema Taharogu.”–This man is much worse tha a murderous ox.
i really hope the justice system wont let us down…..
I think it would be easier for the family if they just never have to see him again, weather he is in a jail or confined hospital doesnt matter- their sanity comes 1st now
In halacha, if someone is not warned and does not acknowledge the warning, they can’t be executed. People with diminished intellectual capacity or who are insane would never be able to acknowledge the warning.
as far as i know there is a difference bet a diminished mental capacity and legal insanity.
how can his lawyer claim insanity? he himself admitted that he was aware that there was a search going on for the poor kid, and instead of dropping him off somewhere where he could be found, he killed him and cut him up. obviously that means he knew that kidnapping him was wrong, or else he would not have paniced- why panic if you dont think you did something wrong?
deminished mental capacity i agree with, but not legal insanity.
to akuperma (no.15):
Rav Moshe Feinstein ZT”L showed me the Gemara in Sanhedrin that, in times when murder has become commonplace, a murderer is killed without all the technical niceties, including children.
This case clearly firs the profile someone who should be executed immediately, for our good and for his own.
in bes din he would not be considered insane and he would be responsible for his actions. ALthough besdin would have its requirements as far as what would be considered valid proof,levi aron WOULD BE CONSIDERED SANE ACCORDING TO HALACHA HE was sane enough to hold a job. this insanity is no excuse and will be no excuse when the fires of gehinnom burn levi aron.
#15, if this story happened to your son, you’d be singing a different tune
akuperma, and who pays for medicare/medicaid, isn’t that the tax payer as well?