Levi Aron’s Lawyer Continues Pursuit of Insanity Defense, Blames “Inbreeding” in Frum Community

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levi-aron5An attorney for murderer Levi Aron continued to push for an insanity defense today, describing his client as a diagnosed schizophrenic who suffered a head injury in his youth.

Lawyer Howard Greenberg went as far as to claim that inbreeding in the frum enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn – where the murderer and his 8-year-old victim Leiby Kletzky z”l were from – could have contributed to a mental deficiency.

“It’s a very simple case: Levi Aron is either evil or he’s crazy,” Greenberg told reporters in Brooklyn Supreme Court after a brief hearing.

“He suffered a severe head injury as a young man. There’s a history of schizophrenia,” the lawyer said. “There’s inbreeding in that community.”

He asserted that relatives sometimes marry and procreate in tight-knit Jewish groups, risking genetic defects.

“That’s an aspect of his familial history,” Greenberg said of Aron, without elaborating.

The head trauma occurred when his client fell off a bike about the age of 10, he added.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents Borough Park and has been in touch with Leiby’s family, called the lawyer “a pathetic figure.”

“It’s an insult to the community. It’s degrading,” he said of the inbreeding remark. “None of this is relevant. It has nothing to do with this situation and is only meant to distract us from the reality of the horrible act.”

Prosecutors are likely to rebut the defense’s sensational arguments by relying on extensive confessions Aron made to police indicating he knew his actions were wrong. They can also summon psychiatrists to bolster their stance.

A judge will appoint experts in coming months to evaluate Aron, who has been found mentally fit to stand trial.

“It’s much too early to tell you who the witnesses are going to be,” another defense lawyer, Jennifer McCann, said outside court.

The defendant was not in the courtroom Wednesday, but appeared via video hookup from jail. He was dressed all in black and seemed catatonic.

If Aron is acquitted by reason of insanity, he’ll be committed to a mental institution for life.

He is due back in court in March and his trial is not expected to start for at least another year.

{NY Daily News/Matzav.com Newscenter}


11 COMMENTS

  1. Lawyer Howard Greenberg went as far as to claim that inbreeding in the frum enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn – where the murderer and his 8-year-old victim Leiby Kletzky z”l were from – could have contributed to a mental deficiency.

    Funny, I was under the impression that scientists say that endogamy as a result of ghettoization was the reason Ashkenazic Jews are disproportionately intelligent.

  2. #2, I wonder what your position was regarding Martin Grossman? Did you believe that he, too, should have been hung “on a lamp post”?

  3. This is true. The inbreeding of Ashkenazi Jews does result in genetic predispositions. Ask any doctor who deals with an even amount of Jews and non-Jews.

  4. If the accused is insane, how was he able to be dutifully employed for company in BP for so many years?

    Ask his co-workers? He was not and is not insane.

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