New Square Shaul Spitzer gets 7 years jail!!!!!!!!!!!

rainbow dash

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:24 pm

Shaul Spitzer, a follower of the New Square grand rebbe, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for first-degree assault in the attack on Aron Rottenberg at 4:15 a.m. May 22 during an attempt to burn down the family's home on Truman Avenue in New Square.

Spitzer was sentenced this morning in state Supreme Court in New City.

Rottenberg, 44, once a plumber, continues to recover from third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body, suffered when Spitzer set off an incediary device while grappling with Rottenberg. Spitzer suffered burns to his hands and arms.

Spitzer faced a sentence of five to 25 years. Before Spitzer pleaded guilty Feb. 8, state Supreme

Court Justice William A. Kelly told the teenager that he would cap his prison term at 10 years.

Kelly came down from his original 15-year cap after Rottenberg suggested leniency and the Rockland prosecutors offered 10 years.

Spitzer's lawyers optimistically hoped for five years, allowing Spitzer to get out earlier with good behavior. He was represented by former Rockland County District Attorney Kenneth Gribetz and former prosecutor Deborah Wolikow Loewenberg of New City, as well as Paul Shectman of Manhattan.

Prosecutor Stephen Moore called for the 10-year sentence agreed to when Spitzer pleaded guilty, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.

In the autumn months of 2010 before the arson attack, groups of New Square followers of grand rebbe David Twersky had protested outside the homes of Rottenberg and several other families in

the 57-year-old Skver Hasidic Jewish community.

Rottenberg and other dissident residents became targets when they bucked the stringent rabbinical rules and prayed outside the village's synagogue on the Sabbath. They prayed with the patients at the Friedwald House rehabilitation center on New Hempstead Road.

Rottenberg became a symbol for some younger residents who desire independence from the rigid social rules set by Twersky. Others have thought Rottenberg was wrong to challenge Twersky, contending he chose to live in New Square and should abide by the rabbi's rules.

Last edited by rainbow dash on Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

ChutzPAh

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:33 pm

You need to change the title- he didn't kill anyone. Not that his crime wasn't horrible......

MGmom

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:34 pm

I just heard.... Its so painful and sad! Crying

Poor parents n family!

Merrymom

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:38 pm

ChutzPAh wrote:

You need to change the title- he didn't kill anyone. Not that his crime wasn't horrible......

Oh, you mean he botched up trying to murder an entire family while they were in their beds, so now he's not a killer?

ElTam

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:41 pm

What MerryMom said. x 2. If he had been successful in his attempt, the whole family would be dead.

Michelle3825

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:43 pm

Umm... what's painful and sad???? That someone who tried to kill a family actually has to pay for his actions??? I hope you are referring to the fact that he only received 7 years jail time as opposed to a much longer sentence.

sequoia

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:51 pm

MGmom wrote:

I just heard.... Its so painful and sad! Crying

Poor parents n family!

You know he tried to kill a Jewish family, right? So were you hoping he'd go free -- why?

CatLady

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:54 pm

The pain and sadness for me are based on the fact that someone actually committed this type of vile act against fellow human beings. We're supposed to be better than that, aren't we? I'm glad the system works and that Spitzer will spend the next phase of his life as a guest of the state. And I'd like to put forth a gentle reminder that the prison culture has their own brand of justice, not dissimilar to what Spitzer thought the Rottenbergs deserved. Since he didn't mind dishing it out, he should have no problem being on the receiving end, right??

Rubber Ducky

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 12:55 pm

He could have gotten 25 years -- seems like a relatively light sentence.

the world's best mom

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 2:56 pm

I don't understand why they would let this guy back on the streets after 7 years. For the safety of everyone else around, I wish they weould give him life in prison. There are people who get much longer sentences, and his crime couldn't have been better than theirs- he tried to murder a bunch of people. I hope he never comes near my neighborhood.

boysrus

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 3:00 pm

I am relieved that there is a punishment for his crime. It was a horrific incident, I only feel sorry for him from the perspective that he is so young and therefore it is possible that he has not yet learned to think very well for himself and he has clearly been badly brainwashedn and has received a seriously strange and lacking chinuch. and what a chilul Hashem.

groisamomma

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 4:38 pm

I'm disgusted that the grand rabbi got off scott free (sp?).

ChutzPAh

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 4:51 pm

Merrymom wrote:

ChutzPAh wrote:

You need to change the title- he didn't kill anyone. Not that his crime wasn't horrible......

Oh, you mean he botched up trying to murder an entire family while they were in their beds, so now he's not a killer?

You misinterpreted me- I only said to correct it so people wouldn't be confused. I think what he did is beyond words and that his sentence for the crime was very light. I have way more to say on this topic, but I'm afraid I'd be misundersttod again. Let's just say that the facts leading up to this tragedy paint the community in a really bad light.

5S5Sr7z3

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 8:19 pm

Well, you do the crime, you do the time. A shame he didnt spill his guts as to exactly who put him up to this. And he should count his lucky stars that he only got 7 years. For attempted murder the minimum can also be 20 years.

September June

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 8:22 pm

I wonder what they did/said to Rottenberg to make him suggest leniency.

5S5Sr7z3

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 8:24 pm

September June wrote:

I wonder what they did/said to Rottenberg to make him suggest leniency.

Cant say for sure, but while Rottenberg WAS able to drop the charges (no idea if he did), the case was NY State vs. Spitzer. I think the judge did know that the kid didnt dream up of this himself so he went easy on him. And Rottenberg knows that Spitzer didnt cook up this idea either.

Arcy

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 9:51 pm

the world's best mom wrote:

clearly you don't know how things run in NS or the history behind what went on... sptizer was nothing more than a prop in a much larger picture. yes he had choices, but with all the brain washing he recieved growing up, and being the rebbe's right hand man throughout his youth he is simply the prdegy of a much larger problem...

the ignorance in some of the comments is really bothering me.

Arcy

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 10:01 pm

just for the record, Rottenberg's issue was never with Spitzer personally.... the issue is how things run in NS, and the mafia/communsit lifetyle of that town....

Sptizer was just a prop used by people who are much "higher" then him. He is an 18 year old boy who grew up in a sheltered environment dictated by one man and a small group of people... yes he does have choices and should know what right and wrong, but for some1 who has been shown only one way all his life (brainwashed?) it's not easy to realize what's right and wrong.

Rottenberg's 'crime' was that he did not daven in the "grand Synagag" with the grand rebbe on shabbos....

In NS there is only ONE minyan on shabbos at 10 AM, any1 who wants to daven earlier (and on time?!?!) is out of luck because the "grand Rebbe" of NS has decided that the town must daven w/ him.

the "rebbe" also has final say about who sells and buys houses in NS... when Rottenberg tried to sell his house (many moons prior to this even) no1 would touch his house because the Rebbe did not permit (communism?)

So before every1 starts making bad remarks against sptizer, just remember that he is just a puppet in a much larger picture.

abmom

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 10:26 pm

September June wrote:

I wonder what they did/said to Rottenberg to make him suggest leniency.

They gave him a million dollars. Another version said 2 million.

sequoia

Tue, Apr 17 2012, 10:37 pm

abmom wrote:

September June wrote:

I wonder what they did/said to Rottenberg to make him suggest leniency.

They gave him a million dollars. Another version said 2 million.

Who has a million dollars lying around?!