NEW YORK
The Jewish Week
03/12/14
Hella Winston
Special Correspondent
‘At the lowest point in my life, the justice system reached over [and did the right thing’,” chasidic abuse whistleblower Sam Kellner told The Jewish Week last Friday morning after his three-year-long and dizzyingly complex case was thrown out.
But before the justice system “did the right thing” for Kellner, it threw one more seemingly bizarre curve his way, as befitting a case that took many such twists and turns.
Before the dismissal of all extortion and perjury charges against Kellner, a lawyer for Baruch Lebovits — the well-connected cantor Kellner helped convict of sexually abusing minors — asked the judge to hold off on dismissing the case. In what legal observers characterized as a highly irregular move, the judge held an hour-long conference in chambers with Lebovits’ attorneys (Nathan Dershowitz and his brother Alan and their co-counsel, Arthur Aidala), Kellner’s lawyers and the prosecutors seeking the dismissal of his case.
Nathan Dershowitz wanted time so that the Lebovits defense team could file a motion seeking to recuse the Brooklyn District Attorney, Kenneth Thompson, from the case and have a special prosecutor appointed. In a letter to Judge Guy J. Mangano, Dershowitz implied that the dismissal was the product of a political deal, erroneously claiming that Kellner’s representatives had met with Thompson, a “courtesy” they say they were denied. (Assistant District Attorney Kevin O’Donnell stated in court that no such meeting had ever taken place and noted that, during his review of the Kellner case, he had met with Lebovits’ counsel.)
The judge declined to grant Lebovits’ lawyers’ request and dismissed the case. In an interview with The Jewish Week, Nathan Dershowitz said they still may seek the appointment of a special prosecutor, a request experts believe will not be granted.
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