A U.S. federal appeals court ordered a new trial for two
black men who were convicted of civil rights violations in
the fatal stabbing of a chareidi Jew during four days of
violence that shook Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 1991. Lemrick
Nelson Jr., now 27, is currently serving 19 2/3 years in
prison; Charles Price, 47, is serving a 21-year sentence.
The court ruled that the judge in their 1997 federal trial
had improperly manipulated jury selection and conducted a
"race- and religion- based reshuffling of the jury" that had
denied the men a fair trial. The trial judge, David G. Trager
of United States District Court in Brooklyn, had made no
secret of his intention to balance the jury between blacks
and Jews, declaring his intent at the time to pick "a moral
jury that renders a verdict that has moral integrity."
The events began on a summer night in 1991, when two children
in Crown Heights were struck by a station wagon that had run
a red light, which was part of the entourage of the Lubavitch
Rebbe. One of the children, 7 years old, died of his
injuries. As a crowd of black people gathered, their anger
rose. Blacks began beating the driver of the car and the
police ordered a Hatzoloh ambulance to take the Jews away.
This sparked a rumor that the Jewish ambulance had refused to
treat Cato.
Hours later, Charles Price urged blacks to take their revenge
against Jews. In apparent response, a gang of blacks shouting
"Get the Jew!" chased down rabbinical student Yankel
Rosenbaum, 29. One of those assailants, 16-year-old Nelson,
stabbed Rosenbaum.
Rosenbaum was taken to a city hospital, where he identified
Nelson from his bed. But medical personnel failed to suture
one of Rosenbaum's wounds and he soon bled to death. Two more
days of rioting followed, during which 188 people were
injured and angry crowds broke shop windows, but no one else
died.
Then-New York Mayor David N. Dinkins traveled to Crown
Heights, met with Rosenbaum before his death and later
proclaimed his death a "lynching." He dodged bottles and
bricks thrown by black rioters, and generally drew praise
initially for his handling of the riots. But a subsequent
report found that Dinkins did "not act in a timely and
decisive manner" in requiring the police to protect lives and
property.
In the state court, despite Rosenbaum's deathbed
identification, Nelson was acquitted. New York District
Attorney Charles Hynes charged that the jurors acted for
reasons of perceived racial justice rather than on the facts
of the case. Members of the jury celebrated the verdict
together with the defense.
Eventually the U.S. federal government brought a case based
on a violation of Rosenbaum's civil rights. In that case both
Nelson and Price were convicted, though now an appeals court
has found that the jury was not properly selected since the
judge attempted to ensure that there was what he considered a
proper representation of both Jews and blacks on the jury.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a statement saying,
"New York has come a long way since the tragic events which
transpired in Crown Heights over ten years ago. Today's
decision by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals could force all
of us to reexamine an episode we thought was part of our
history, not our present."
