4:54PM EST: [UPDATES IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Highly credible sources tell YWN that Levi Aron, the man who confessed to kidnapping and murdering Leiby Kletzky A”H, is being charged with an eight-count indictment. The main charge is first degree murder, followed by felony kidnapping.
He is facing life in jail without the possibility of parole.
Further details will be announced by the Kings County DA at the press conference, and will be published on YWN.
UPDATE FROM WCBSTV AT 5:35PM EST: A grand jury has indicted Levi Aron and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder in the case of Leiby Kletzky.
Aron faces up to life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes announced moments ago. Aron’s arraignment is scheduled for July 28.
Leiby’s cause of death, according to the Medical Examiner, was intoxication followed by smothering. Hynes said that Kletzky was given Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant; quetiapine, an anti-psychotic drug; and hydrocodone before Aron killed him.
Kletzky’s death has officially been ruled a homicide.
UPDATE 6:00PM EST (PRESS RELEASE FROM D.A.): Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the indictment of Levi Aron, charged with killing eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky.
Aron, 35, is charged with two counts of Murder in the First Degree, three counts of Murder in the Second Degree, two counts of Kidnapping in the First Degree and one count of Kidnapping in the Second Degree. If convicted, he faces a maximum of life in prison without parole.
The indictment charges that on July 11, Aron abducted Keltzky from the vicinity of 18th Avenue and Dahill Road, in Brooklyn. Aron then took the child to Aron’s apartment, at 466 East 2nd St., also in Brooklyn, where Aron killed him, according to the indictment.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
The case is being prosecuted by Counsel to the Homicide Bureau Julie Rendelman and Unit Chief in the Sex Crimes/Crimes Against Children Division Linda Weinman. Kenneth Taub is Chief of the Homicide Bureau. Rhonnie Jaus is Chief of the Sex Crimes/Crimes Against Children Division.
(Dov Gordon – YWN)
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33 Responses
Baruch Hashem.
I hope he rots in prison until he dies without any parole. Even prison is too good for him. He will probably ask for kosher meals 3x a day and time off for davening. He deserves no less than what he has done to Yehuda (Leiby) ben Rav Nachman. HaShem Yerachem!
If he was indeed in Monsey, and drove through NJ, it’s a federal crime, with the possibility of Death Penalty.
I would like to remind you that there is a second tragedy here that nobody is talking about – the tragedy that the Aron family is facing.
It may not be the popular thing to discuss but they are still a yiddishe family that deserves our compassion for the tzarah that their son has put them through.
Thinking of new and more horrible adjectives to describe Levi Aron is totally unnecessary – we all know how bad the crime was. Wishing Aron all of the worst possible klalos in the world does nothing but make you feel better – no good can come from it.
Remember that he has a family too…
This is a disgrace. This man should be executed–pronto!
There are extreme examples where prison promotes one to do the proper Tshuva. I don’t buy into that for one minute regardless of the circumstances but I have heard of others in perhaps different cases that do although I can not in good conscience distinguish one criminal from another.
it would be better if he served life in a mental institution
please keep in mind that “al pi halacha” he isn’t chayav missah. Ther aen’t any eidim. There wasn’t ha’asrah. We don’t believe him because “ain odom osieh atzmo roshoh”
He is a devil and monster. lock him in jail and let a goy “knock him off”
dear straightshooter:
“Al-Pi-Halacha does not apply when there murder has become common, the way it is today.
The Talmud Sanhedrin states that, when muder has become commonplace, the ruler can decree executions on a wholesale basis, as much as necessary to stem the tide of Retzicha.
This was Gemara shown to me personally by Rav Moshe Feinstein, ZT”L, when I asked him about supporting the death penalty in NY state.
Where would he have gotten those drugs? They aren’t thinks people normally have lying around the house. Quetiapine is not a recreational drug, and if it had been prescribed for him, it is very likely he’ll have a strong insanity defense (since it would mean he had already been diagnosed as insane to begin with). It also suggest that someone should have been in charge of keeping an eye on him.
#3, the murder took place in NY. There is no death penalty for kidnapping
We are talking about a beriyah of HaKBH, all these shameless opinions talking about rotting etc, are just examples of people with no yiras shamoyim and no middos whatsoever. The Gedolim of this generation that have spoken about this tragedy have said we need to do some introspection, not focus on ensuring the culprit rot.
Also, kidnapping charges might be difficult to prove since the gas attendant saw the boy without any restraints.
The Leiby Kletzky Memorial Fund has just been established by Leiby’s parents:
http://www.give2gether.com/projects/help-support-leiby-kletzky/
I have cried for days about Leiby and I still cannot believe what happened, but instead of everyone focusing on Aron and cursing him, Hashem will give him his punishment, we don’t have to worry. We don’t have to lower ourselves to call him names and wish bad things upon him. Trust me, I am really sad too, but he clearly has something wrong with him, and by us wishing he were dead doesn’t make the fact that Leiby was killed any better. Stop worrying about giving him justice. Hashem has the ultimate beis din.
I agree with you #4.
Saying that aron is a rotzeach is motsi shem ra since no one saw him do it and ein adam mesim atzmo rasha so we don’t believe him.
Where did Torah rules go????
MMS 601, Your are incorrect. First of all, you do not need to go through Jersey to get to Monsey, are are about 5 ways to get there and all but 2 do not require crossing into Jersey. Second, the murder occurred in NY so it is a NY crime prosecuted in NY courts. If he had indeed brought the child into Jersey and then back into NY, in would only be a Federal case of kidnapping not MURDER…
Daas torah, I might have listened to your opinion for a second but I personally heard r Gissenger refer to him as the rotziach so lets not be too frum here.
They are gonna have to put him in isolation because even well weathered criminals in the prison would kill such a sick inmate. They have zero respect for child killers.
They should have just sent him to the electric chair. Now he’s just gonna take up space rotting away in jail for the next X years.
Aron might have done tshuva and he might still do tshuva. All this ripping him apart and cursing him out for potentially asking for kosher and davening in jail is in my opinion kefira. There were worse people in our history who did tshuva and there are families that have forgiven people that have done true repentance,who did horrific things to their children
Look at the gemara in kdushin 49 about marrying someone al mnas sheani tzadik. That would apply to Aron as well.
COKEBOYCOTT, you write and feel like a mensch and a Yid. Zei gebentched.
There is ONE way to Monsey without going thru NJ and that is by using the Thruway / I87 and staying in NY. However most sane people, with all things being equal, go thru NJ with either the Gothals, the Holland Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel, or the GW Bridge.
Dovid2 I have often thought of his family too. I cannot imagine the shame and horror they feel. I feel really bad for his mother. .
#16 your a rasha i cant believe YW posted your sickness
Mark, so the reason he’s claiming insanity is to say that he went with the Thruway!
Cokebycott,
You make a very good point. However, I would have liked to have seen members of his family come out to the press and show some sympathy for the Kletzys and some remorse for the pain that Levi caused.
Even his attorneys expressed their grief.
#16  Its biemes not a stira .The torah only said that you can’t kill him but he may still be a rotziach so it would not be motsi shem ra . And the news and press have labeld him the suspect so he has a shem ra already anyway.So rav Gissenger could call him rotziach.But all these comments about how he should be punised is for the torah to say not us.Since when do any of us writing here have any daas torah!!!! we should be learning torah at this time for the nefesh of liby and for our own nefesh hacai (that is daas torah “ke heim chayanu “) you don’t find any rabonim posting any comments here ?? what busniess do we have to give the punishments here on YWN !!!! Are we a bais din here ?? Its unbleviable!! All we should do here is make kabbolas on how to better ourselfs in yiras shomyim and chesed and so on .So that other readers will see and do the same … its called mezaka es horabim … and im including myself in this message !! come o guys think about it .. whats is our real tafkid in this world ? to write our comments on YWN on how to punish the rotziach .. I dont think so . I maybe wrong about my mehalich in this issue , but this is how I feel about it. May we all be zochie to do the rotzon hashem and to be mekabel penie moshiach bimhara ..
Mark levin, “most sane people… go thru NJ”
So you’re accusing him of being sane?
Dear Deepthinker,
Rav Moshe Feinstein was probably talking about using the death penalty on goyim and not on Jews. If you remember, we were all requested to send faxes to plead for the life of the fellow in Florida who was about to be (and was) executed for murder of a policewoman. If the death penalty were acceptable, we should have become introspective and let the justice system do their thing. Therefore, thank goodness there is no death penalty in NY state, for then we would have to plead for the guy’s life. It might make a big Kiddush Hashem, but it would be a gut-wrenching mitva to do and I’m happy to be relieved of that nisayon.
By the way, I think our focus is wrong. I think we need to focus on this tragedy the way Gedolei Yisroel focus.
Take for example, the Holocaust. And I think that the Holocaust is a good example, without lowering the acute nature of the Holocaust in our consciousness, because people are reacting to this tragedy with the pain and sadness that they do when confronting the Holocaust.
When Gedolei Yisroel approach the Holocaust, they do not focus on the perpetrators, their fiendishness, their cruelty, where they developed, how much they would relish their punishment, what should be meted out to them, etc.
What do they focus on?
On our loss, on who the people were, what were the achievements of their organizations and their communities, how to rebuild, and on the rebuilding itself.
In the prayer of Av HaRachamim, which was chiefly composed as a reaction to the Crusader massacres, their is one line about the murderers: that Hashem should take revenge for the spilled blood.
At the Levayah for Leiby z”l, not in one hesped was the murderer even mentioned. Everyone focussed on who was Leiby, what Leiby stood for, what Leiby achieved in his short life, and our loss.
And this focus should be our focus, Ad Bias HaGoel.
“However most sane people go thru NJ”. So obviously this sicko didnt
to Daastorah:
In other words your saying he’s inocent since there are no witnesses, so why is no one going out on the streets protesting that an inocent man is sitting in jail???!