The indictment of Lemrick Nelson Jr. on charges that he violated the civil rights of Yankel Rosenbaum has renewed hope for those who have spent three years fighting to bring the killers to justice.
Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old Talmud student from Australia, was murdered Aug. 19, 1991, on the first of three nights of black rioting in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
However, some close to the effort, asserting that federal investigators have failed to collect testimony from eyewitnesses to the murder, say they fear the government will again fail to get Nelson convicted.
Nelson was acquitted of criminal charges in a New York state court in 1992 after jurors reportedly found inconsistencies in police testimony.
Nelson celebrated the verdict with jurors at a restaurant after his acquittal.
Black residents of Crown Heights began rioting three years ago this week after Gavin Cato, 7, was killed and his 7-year-old cousin was injured by an out-of-control car in the motorcade of the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Schneerson.
The rebbe was returning to the neighborhood after visiting the cemetery where his father-in-law, and now he, is buried.
Several blocks away from the site of the accident and several hours later, a crowd of between 20 and 30 people surrounded Rosenbaum. Some shouted “Get the Jew!” as he was knifed and suffered fatal stab wounds.
Nelson, now 18, was arrested with a bloody knife in his pocket. He was the only person ever brought to trial for Rosenbaum’s murder.
His indictment on federal charges has been sealed until a judge decides whether Nelson will be tried as an adult or as a juvenile.
‘MURDERED BECAUSE HE WAS A JEW’
Norman Rosenbaum, Yankel’s brother, has spent the last three years doggedly pursuing justice for his brother’s murderers by chasing after state and federal officials from Brooklyn to Washington during close to 30 trips to the United States from his home near Melbourne, Australia.
Intense lobbying from Rosenbaum, along with Crown Heights Jewish community members and U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), apparently persuaded U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to pursue a federal civil rights case against Nelson.
Schumer praised the indictment, saying in a statement: “Yankel Rosenbaum was murdered because he was a Jew. And like the Rodney King beating, his case deserves the federal civil rights prosecution that it will not receive.”
However, some of those close to Rosenbaum question Reno’s commitment to getting Nelson convicted on the federal charges.
“Norman feels the entire investigation is not (being) properly done,” said Isaac Abraham, referring to the victim’s brother.
“We feel Reno doesn’t have enough to convict him,” said Abraham, a Satmar Chasid who is a close friend of Rosenbaum’s and his spokesman in the United States. “We’re still looking for the U.S. Attorney’s Office to speak to key witnesses.”
According to Abraham, seven people — four Jews and three blacks — witnessed the murder of Rosenbaum and have yet to be interviewed by federal officials.
He said their names and phone numbers have been supplied to the Justice Department and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Abraham and others also expressed concern that Nelson will be tried as a juvenile.
If that happens, the entire trial will be closed to observers and the media and “we won’t know what the presentation by the federal government” will be, Abraham said.
“If we lose Lemrick Nelson here, justice will not have been served,” he said. “And if the case is not properly and vigorously investigated and presented, the jury will not come back with the verdict we’re looking for.”
Rabbi Joseph Spielman, chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, said that Reno and the Justice Department should be pursuing indictments beyond Nelson and Rosenbaum’s other murderers.
“Hundreds of acts of violence were done in those 80 hours (of rioting), and she should follow through in all bias crimes committed against Jewish citizens of Crown Heights,” Spielman said.
“Those that committed the crimes are walking the streets of New York with impunity and are laughing at us,” Spielman said, adding, “We can’t allow that.”
Referring to the March arrest of Nelson in Atlanta for slashing a high school classmate, Spielman said, “Nelson got off and slashed someone in Atlanta. Crime feeds on itself.”
Nelson was indicted for assault and was freed on $1,500 bond for the Atlanta incident, according to reports from DeKalb County prosecutors.
Several Jewish organizations welcomed Nelson’s indictment and also called for a continuing investigation of other perpetrators of the 1991 Crown Heights violence.
Among the groups hailing the decision were the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress, and the Institute for Public Affairs of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, which said the decision “has been long overdue.”
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