NEW YORK
Frum Follies
The New York Daily News, reported: “EXCLUSIVE: Brooklyn rabbi charged with teen sex assault gets 60 days in jail; DA ripped for offering light plea deal.”
While Rabbi Yoel Malik pled guilty to a single misdemeanor count of Sexual Misconduct, Oral/Anal Conduct (NYS PL 130.20.02) his charge sheet included another 52 misdemeanor counts and 24 felony counts of sex crimes with minors which the record shows the DA and the defendant agreed to have covered by the single misdemeanor plea.There were additional felony and misdemeanor charges that were dropped.
I get plea deal bargaining. They spare the victims the ordeal of a trial, save prosecution resources, and eliminate the risk of an acquittal. But an average of 2 days per felony sex crime? That was no deal; it was a giveaway, a travesty. The victims and justice were bamboozled and the public was endangered.
The DA defends this disgraceful trade of less than one day in jail per charge because the victims were “extremely reluctant to testify publicly.” Mind you, the DA doesn’t even say they refused. The DA may be exaggerating, though it is doubtlessly true they were reluctant and the DA knows why. The ultra orthodox community harasses and intimidates victims of sex crimes committed by orthodox Jews. The intimidation is extreme. They are just like the Mafia, street gangs, and drug cartels.
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