Brooklyn, NY – The confession of a man charged with kidnapping, smothering and dismembering an 8-year-old boy was strong-armed by authorities who took advantage of his fragile mental state, defense attorneys said Monday.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
At a brief hearing in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, Levi Aron appeared via video from behind plated glass, barely moving or shifting his gaze. Outside, his attorneys said they intend to prove Aron, 35, was not guilty by reason of insanity in the death of Leiby Kletzky.
Greenberg said authorities told Aron what to write in his confession, and he followed their orders.
“My opinion is this guy would admit he shot Kennedy if you spent enough time with him,” said defense attorney Howard Greenberg, who joined the team pro-bono after the presiding judge questioned the experience of his attorneys.
Leiby went missing July 11 while walking home from religious day camp, the first time he was allowed to walk by himself. He missed his turn and got lost, and police say he approached Aron for help. About two days later, the boy’s severed feet were found in the freezer at Aron’s apartment, along with bloody knives and a carving board. The rest of the boy’s body was found in a red suitcase in a trash bin several blocks away. His legs had been cut from his torso.
“Anyone who thirsts for blood can take solace in the fact that he will spend the rest of his life in an asylum, never to see the light of day,” Greenberg said of his client.
According to prosecutors, Aron admitted he killed the boy after he panicked when he saw posters with the child’s photo. After the two met on the street, Aron took the boy to a wedding upstate, then to his apartment. The child remained there alone, possibly of his own free will, all day while Aron was at work. When he returned, he took a bath towel and smothered the boy, he said, according to authorities.
The medical examiner’s office said the boy was given a cocktail of prescription drugs. But Aron’s confession didn’t mention that, and he denied ever tying up the boy, though marks were found on his body.
Aron has been found fit to stand trial, but his attorneys have not yet changed his plea to not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. A court-ordered evaluation obtained by The Associated Press showed that a psychologist diagnosed him with an adjustment disorder and a personality disorder with schizoid features. But Aron would still need to be evaluated by doctors who would then testify at trial. Defense attorneys Monday refused to say where they were in the process.
The Kletzky family is Hasidic, which is an ultra-Orthodox type of Judaism. Their Brooklyn neighborhood, called Borough Park, is home to one of the world’s largest communities of Orthodox Jews outside of Israel. Aron is Orthodox but not Hasidic.
NY Assemblyman Dov Hikind called today’s events “a shocker” and told VIN News that Aron’s legal team was literally grasping at straws.
“They have nothing. They are not denying that he did it. To accuse the district attorney’s office of fabricating a story, of putting words in Levi Aron’s mouth, to say that he is guilty by reason of insanity? This is just pathetic. What the defense is doing is literally sticking a knife into the Kletzky family by saying ‘He isn’t responsible for his actions, don’t be upset at him.’ The fact is here is a guy who worked in the community, functioned in the community, davened in the community. And now they want us to believe he isn’t responsible for his actions?”
Perhaps there is a reason why all this technicality affects the ability to convict. As far as we know as per the media, this suspect not only admitted the crime, but led the police to the location of the body. The justice system is strange. It allows for technicalities to block the ability to find a criminal guilty, even where the facts are clearly known, but accepts circumstantial evidence that is based more on reasoning than facts.
Before everyone freaks out, thinking that this will cause him to go free, not so fast. This is standard procedure when there is a confession. In a case like this there are two ways to go either insanity or coercion.
The Coercion defense will not work for the following reasons. There is overwhelming physical evidence. He was at the scene of the crime with the victim’s blood on his hands. He knew where the rest of the body was stashed. So even without a confession he can be easily convicted. So the only thing left, is to determine whether he is insane or not.
That – is for the Jury to decide
Oh – that’s the angle they are attempting? Shocker. But when the actual evidence is presented it will tell the complete opposite story. It seems thought through to tie a boy to a bed, to drug him, to dismember a body as well as attend a wedding in the meantime. Poor Leiby, may his neshama have an aliyah.
right..and someone put levi arons fingerprints on the knife and planted leibys remains in his freezer..gimme a break!
Dear Howard Greenberg if it was your son chas v’shlom (I would leave these word out of u went with a yiddish heart )what would you say to the attorney who took on the case to defend a murderer!!!! -yes he deserves a “fair chance ” leave that to some putz with no feelings -where r yours ????
All the bloodthirsty comments about possible changes in venue for the trial or any defense strategy make me worry that this case may end up being dismissed on a technicality or violation of the defendant’s rights. Even in such a horrible crime as this, his rights must be respected or he will walk out of the jail as a free man which would be upsetting to many of us.
Git morgen. What kind of argument is this either way he’s going in for life. There is no death penalty in NY stop the nonsense and cut this to the chase!
I would rather suggest this shows that the Defense has no real strong defense for this immoral man who killed this little Boy so horribly,that why they try to punch some stupid doubts in this whole story by accusing the DA of fabricating stuff. I won’t be surprise that 1 day the defense will totally deny the killing of Leiby A’H.
It’s a pathetic thing to do, but I’m not surprised. It is the job of his attorney to do whatever he can to not get him a guilty verdict. This happens all the time, it’s just harder to swallow this time because it hits closer to home.
My take he was not crazy in the legal sense at the time of the crime however he’s messed up during his time in solitary confident I believe he will be found guilty however him spending the rest of his life in a mental institution or medical ward of a prison whats the difference? the guilty verdict I guess will prevent him from ever getting time off for good behavior like the guy who tried killing Ragan
If he is found “Not Guilt by Reason of Insanity” this means he will be incarcerated at an asylum for the criminally insane for the rest of his natural life. It is as good as a life sentence, even better because there is no possibility of parole. The man who attempted to assassinate President Reagan is still behind bars at an insane asylum. The conditions at these insane asylums are worse than prisons.
It’s sickening what the Defense team are trying to do here, but what else do we expect them to do? It’s their job to see that this monster gets treated fairly & gets shipped off to where he’s supposed to be, according to his “illness”.
But whatever! I won’t pretend I have any sympathy for him at all! Let him rot in prison, and find out what the criminals in there do to child-killers. I’m sure they all know of the disturbing & brutal way he treated the boy… if the courts won’t give the Kleitzky family justice, then let the brutes in the jails do it. They’ll only be too happy to get rid of scum like him.
The whole thing makes me feel ill. As a mother, I cannot fathom what his family has gone through, and is *still* going through today. Their nightmare will never be over.
this is making me sick! everday i think of Leiby and his family…..their pain has no end…..only by the grace of HaShem and by their emunah and bitachon can they wake up each morning- i assume….my heart goes out to them!!!
how can this butchers defense team say this? the evidence was there!!! in his house!!! (ill avoid gory details,,,,) Hikind is right! he was able to work, daven and even correct Leiby’s name at a mishebeirach -when searches were looking for him!! then he was not coerced into anything!!! gosh!! it hurts so much!!!
poor Leiby!!! Leiby ben Nachman ZT”L- i will NEVER forget you!! and i hope you c how much i love you from your holy place in shamayim – as the mishnayos (i hired somone to say for you) rises up to your holy place in Gan Eden!!!
I think that we can all agree that the confession, coerced or not, is beside the point. Why is the defense wasting time? If they had any sense, they would get a plea arrangement to simply confine this animal to chemical restraints in a dark, padded room l’olam va’ed.
Or Obama could just send in a Predator drone…
Levi Aron once said that he moved to Brooklyn because he would blend in and the community would protect him. Believe him! Please do not let the horrible suffering and lessons of child abuse, pedophilia and the worst part of all – the cover up be for nothing. Levi Aron took advantage of this and is now continuing to abuse the system that has served him so well up to now. If you are not moche (protest), you will be asked to pay a big price. Yell, scream and kick until the evil has been eradicated. Stop the cover ups! This is our children. This is our future!
We already knew this would happen. There’s undeniable physical evidence. There’s a confession gathered under the scrupulous attention of a police department which knows the public eye is on it. What else can they do but claim insanity and try to get the evidence and confession tossed out?
I think I want to believe that Aron is insane. I don’t want to believe that a ‘normal’ person could ever do such monstrous acts. Having said that I also believe Aron belongs in prison for the rest of his miserable life.
What’s so sickening or shocking? Defense attorneys use all available options to them taught in law schools. If one tactic doesn’t hold well, they’ll switch to another. Who can forget “the famed attorney” Marc Geragos when he was defending Scott Peterson (who is now on death row for killing his wife Laci and the unborn child) and came up with new theories and tactics every month.
At the end of the day, the D.A. will have its argument and the defense can come up with any argument they want. Let the system work itself. The trial did not start yet.
In the meantime Leiby’s A”H family “veint bitterer treiren” for their little boy. I cry along with them. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him. I light extra candles for our deceased relatives (parents, sibling ) every Friday night. I took upon myself to add a candle for Leiby A”H as well. I also lit a yahrzeit candle on Yom Kippur and the days we say Yizkor. I may not know his family, but my heart breaks every time I think about it and bentching Gott in Himmel that it wasn’t one my children or grandchildren as selfish as that sounds.
The justice system will lock him up forever regardless if he is found guilty regularly or by reason of insanity. But, Mr Greenberg, as a fellow Jew, I ask you —how do you stoop so low? Because of people like you, I raised my children telling them they were not allowed to be lawyers. You give a bad name to the lawyers who are real estate attornies for example, but criminal lawyers??? Attornies like you will have a lot to answer for in Olam Haba.
May Lieby continue to be a meilitz yosher for all of us. We certainly need it.
Not for anything unless Hikind was in the room during the interrogation he has no clue what was coerced and what was volunteered.
It seems pretty clear that there is no avenue for the killer to pursue that will let him ever walk a free man, the only question seems to be whether he’s getting prison time or prison psych ward time. Even without the confession there is the overwhelming forensic evidence so I’m not even sure the confession is so material to a conviction. This case will be decided on the judge’s rulings regarding the not guilty by reason of insanity applications.
The real shame is there is no death penalty in New York State so blame Cuomo 1 for all your frustration over the killer not getting what he deserves no matter what he gets. And truth be told, nothing will bring the niftar back anyway.
My understanding is that the judge has ruled that he is fit to stand trial. I also am under the impression that a person declared not guilty by reason of insanity may eventually be released from prison.
None of us, especially politicians, should judge this case, as we do not have all the facts. The judge will make certain decisions, and the jury will decide on the “facts” and make a legal “finding” as to whether he committed this crime and if so was he at the time insane or not insane.
Much as we all have visceral feelings about this case, we have no choice but to let the American justice system run its course.
I have Leiby’s picture on my door and in my wallet. I’m not insensitive (I hope) to the tremendous, horrific act here. I am not saying the man is insane. I’m saying let’s not judge and let’s leave things up to the judge and the jury.
Shame on the Aron family for trying all means to set their son the butcher free to slaughter again.
Would posters here stop demonizing the defense team! Yes, the crime was horrific beyond imagination and I cry for the precious neshama that was lost and for the parents. However, there are rules and procedures that our legal system prescribes for how trials are conducted and what evidence is or is not admitted. Newflash for all- not every thing reported in the media, even if true, is admissible as evidence. The defense team has to put the prosecution to its proof. Would all the critics here prefer that the defense team slack off and just do a half-hearted job, setting the stage for an appeal based on the ineffective assistance of counsel?
if he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, it does not mean he will go free, but confined to the appropriate psychiatric facility. . Politicians should not pander to people’s blood lust. Trial by jury and not trial by publicity is the American justice system that for all it’s imperfection is still the best in the world. Let the court do their job. Those who are screaming the loudest against the defense team would be the first to change their tune, if heaven forbid, it was their family member on trial
if a pschyciatrist prescribed the meds, then im sure he will be involved in the case too. my feeling is that he was not insane. he was evil. if he didnt do the crime then how would he know where the suitcase was…2 miles away in the dumpster. did he have a crystal ball????duhh