'91 Suspect Admits: "I Killed Yankel"

[Free ThinkerNY]

'91 Suspect Admits: "I Killed Yankel"

By John Marzulli

NY DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, April 29th, 2003

Lemrick Nelson did it.

He now admits stabbing Yankel Rosenbaum during the 1991 Crown Heights riots - but insists he didn't target the Hasidic scholar because of his religion, Nelson's lawyer declared yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

"I stabbed somebody, but not because he was a Jew, 'cause I was drunk. I had been drinking," Nelson told his girlfriend about a year after the attack, his lawyer Richard Jasper said yesterday.

The bombshell stabbing admission - and radical change in legal strategy - came as Nelson's third trial in the case that nearly ripped apart the city got underway.

Nelson is charged with violating Rosenbaum's civil rights - meaning prosecutors must prove that Rosenbaum was attacked because of his race and religion.

Jasper's surprise strategy - directly aimed at defusing the killing as a hate crime - drew no visible reaction from jurors or Nelson, who sat in the courtroom clad in a dark suit.

But the legal gambit was scoffed at by the victim's brother, Norman Rosenbaum, a lawyer from Australia who has long pressed to put Nelson behind bars.

"Lemrick Nelson is a liar and a murderer," Rosenbaum said outside the Brooklyn courthouse. "Lemrick Nelson was caught up in the excitement, it was the excitement of getting a Jew."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Resnick told jurors that on the night of the killing Nelson was in an angry crowd "determined to get revenge."

"This gang went looking for a scapegoat that night; it wanted to find a Jew to even the score," Resnick said.

After claiming at two prior trials that he was framed by police, Nelson switched yesterday to a "high on beer" defense.

Jasper told the predominantly black jury that as violence erupted that hot August night, "a terrible combination of alcohol, youth and tragedy" pushed the black teenager to attack the young rabbinical student.

Nelson was 16, "straight out of Brooklyn," hanging out and drinking 40-ounce beers, Jasper said. "The evidence will show that [the killing] did not take place because of [Rosenbaum's] religion," Jasper said. "Not as far as Lemrick Nelson is concerned."

Nelson, now 27, was acquitted of state murder charges in 1992 and cannot be tried again for murder under the state double jeopardy rule.

He was convicted on federal civil rights charges in 1997, but an appeals court reversed the conviction after finding that the trial judge had improperly tried to balance the number of Jews and blacks on the jury.

Accident ignited fury

The case dates to Aug. 19, 1991, when a 7-year-old black child, Gavin Cato, was killed and his young cousin injured when they were struck by a Jewish driver who lost control of his car in a motorcade carrying the Lubavitcher grand rebbe, Menachem Schneerson.

A crowd gathered, and simmering tensions between blacks and Hasidim boiled over.

The fuse was lit when a Hasidic ambulance crew appeared to ignore the two children. But the police had ordered the crew to leave the scene.

Three hours later and five blocks away, a gang of blacks shouting "Get the Jew!" set upon Yankel Rosenbaum, who was visiting from Australia.

Cops caught Nelson a few blocks away with a bloody knife in his pants pocket.

Nelson's previous lawyers accused detectives of fabricating a confession because they were under enormous political pressure to solve the crime.

But now, Nelson's defense team will use that confession - as well as incriminating statements he made to his girlfriend - in a bid to get him off.

The first trial: Sept. 23, 1992 At Lemrick Nelson's murder trial in state court, defense lawyer Arthur Lewis insisted his client was not the one who stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum. "The evidence will show that there are other people that are responsible," said Lewis, who added it was really shoddy medical care that killed Rosenbaum.

The second trail: June 16, 1997 At a federal trial in which Nelson was accused of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights, defense lawyer Trevor Headley told jury: "The evidence will show that it is not true that Lemrick Nelson stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum. The evidence will show that police officers ... were either partially untruthful in their testimony or mistaken, or deliberately lied."

The third trial: April 28, 2003 Yesterday, at Nelson's retrial on the federal charges, defense lawyer Richard Jasper told jurors his client admitted stabbing Rosenbaum. He quoted Nelson as saying: "Something happened that night. I stabbed somebody, but not because he was a Jew, 'cause I was drunk. I had been drinking."

[Free ThinkerNY]

Sharpton and Dinkins loudly proclaimed Nelson innocent. Why are they silent now that the undeniable truth is known?

[wardaddy]

How Sharpton still survives politically is a sad reflection on his supporters and our culture as a whole.

Sharpton should be sued like Metzger was for incitement.

Where's Morris Dees now?

[Charles Henrickson]

"I stabbed somebody, but not because he was a Jew, 'cause I was drunk. I had been drinking."

Well OK then. I guess that makes it all right.

[sushiman]

"He was convicted on federal civil rights charges in 1997, but an appeals court reversed the conviction after finding that the trial judge had improperly tried to balance the number of Jews and blacks on the jury. "

So now there is a predominantly black jury and that is just fine and dandy , right ?

[Humidston]

As I recall, right after the first trial, the jury took Lemrick Nelson out to lunch and they "celebrated" the fact that that lousy punk got off.

We lived up there on Long Island in the early '90's and I also remember a story related to this... Something about some black teens who broke into the basement of a Temple. Some Jews were upstairs, heard the racket, rushed down to the basement and grabbed the kids while yelling something like, "You little *N* ba$tards!"

The Jews called police to arrest the punks but were promptly arrested for commiting a "hate crime."

......Deliver me!

[Coleus]

And I think the glorified Men's Room Attendant, David Dinkins, always knew the truth.

Fat Al

[Free ThinkerNY]

Sharpton threw gasoline on the fire of the Crown Heights riots. At the time, I heard him on a live radio show on WLIB radio in NYC. He ranted about how the Jewish driver of the car that accidently killed a Black child, was driving drunk. He said that the driver was drunk because there is a Jewish tradition of drinking wine at the cemetary (the driver was part of a funeral procession, when he had the accident). This was a lie. He made a great issue about the driver being Jewish, and how the Jews in Brooklyn control everything. It was one of the worst examples of bigotry and hate-mongering I have ever heard. Of course, Sharpton will never be held accountable for anything by the Democrat Party. They only care about attaining and maintaining political power. To them, the end always justifies the means.

[Paleo Conservative]

Where's Morris Dees now?

At the Southern Poverty Law Center. New York is not in the South, so he's not interested.

[wardaddy]

Sharpton has blood on his hands from several incidents where he has inflamed blacks to violence.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Birds of a feather flock together.

[wardaddy]

Dees (Chester the Molester) did go after Metzger in Kali and Aryan Nations in Idaho did he not?

Sharpton ain't white for starters and Sharpton's victims aren't black for another reason and Dees probably fears having to collect from the buffoon if he won.

[Free ThinkerNY]

I remember that story. Some Jews grabbed a Black guy who was attempting to break into a Jewish school at night. He was held by them until the police came. They did not call him by the "N" word. He told the cops that they called him that as a way of shifting the blame to them and misleading the cops. He said that he was just an innocent Black man walking down the street minding his own business, when a gang of racist Jews attacked him because he was Black. The NYC Black activists immediately jumped on the case and took his side. It later turned out that he admitted that he made up the "N" word accusation and was going to be prosecuted for making false statements to the police and grand jury. He skipped town and Sharpton said even if he had lied about being the victim of Jewish racists, it didn't matter because there were many other cases that were real.

[TAdorno]

Can he get the death penalty? Just hoping.

[Free ThinkerNY]

Unfortunately not, having been found not guilty in his first trial. But there is always Karmic Justice. Nelson is an evil entity who may yet meet an evil end. Hope springs eternal.

[Humidston]

Thanks for the clarification. I knew the whole thing was bogus and slanted in the perp's favor. Your rendition is worse than mine!

I'm so grateful I'm back in Texas, where criminals are treated like criminals.

....Well, most of the time!

[rmlew]

Incitement? Look up "Freddy's Fashion Market.
http://www.nationalcenter.org/P21NVKingSharpton701.html

The only difference between Al Sharpton and David Duke is that Sharpton has blood on his hands.

[Free ThinkerNY]

And the Demonrats like Hitlery Clintoon have blood on their hands after shaking hands with Sharpton.

[ClaireSolt]

I don't get this "hate crime" thing. Murder is murder IMO. It is an absolute. How can hate make it worse? or badder? Just seems like a way to create drama in the community.

I thought Democrats learned in the last election that pitting minorities against one another in NY is not good for party unity in NY. I guess they didn't.

Someday, one would think that they would figure out that opportunistic white people take advantage of this infighting to get ahead. For instance, is the jr senator from NY black or Jewish? NO.

[He Rides A White Horse]

I don't get this "hate crime" thing.

There is always Charles Manson I suppose. He claimed to have murder committed in the name of love.

[wardaddy]

Good Point.