A long-standing rivalry between two Orthodox Jewish neighborhood patrols took center stage yesterday in the trial of a half-dozen men accused of assaulting yeshiva students in Crown Heights two years ago.
Six members of the Shomrim patrol are charged with attacking the four students after having been called to break up a melee at the school.
But one of the defense lawyers said in her opening statement that the defendants were charged as a result of efforts by Levi Huebner, a lawyer for a rival patrol called Shmira.
Post, Daily News Report on Yesterdays Court Proceedings
Kosher Clashers – Beat-trial Defense Blames Orthodox Rivals
A long-standing rivalry between two Orthodox Jewish neighborhood patrols took center stage yesterday in the trial of a half-dozen men accused of assaulting yeshiva students in Crown Heights two years ago.
Six members of the Shomrim patrol are charged with attacking the four students after having been called to break up a melee at the school.
But one of the defense lawyers said in her opening statement that the defendants were charged as a result of efforts by Levi Huebner, a lawyer for a rival patrol called Shmira.
Attorney Joyce David said Huebner called police the day after the violence and offered to translate for the Hebrew-speaking students.
But he neglected to disclose that he represented Shmira, she said, and he later pressured detectives to arrest the Shomrim squad.
The two patrols’ history of bad blood dates back to the late 1990s, when Shmira splintered from the original group.
“[Huebner] orchestrated this case. He played the DA’s office; he played the police,” said David, who represents defendant Chaim Hershkop, 28.
She added that Huebner filed a $140 million lawsuit against Shomrim on behalf of the students.
After yesterday’s session, Huebner said, “I believe that the only place the case should be tried is in the court.”
Prosecutor David Weiss, meanwhile, called Shomrim a “gang” whose intention that night was to attack helpless yeshiva students and “beat them indiscriminately.”
But defense lawyer Tedd Blecher argued that the defendants were “like Boy Scouts” up against a hostile bunch.
“They’re not yeshiva boys; they’re full-grown adults, many of whom are much bigger than the defendants,” said Blecher, who represents Benjamin Lifschitz, 23
The defendants, most of them in their 20s, could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
Yeshiva Row Over Messiah Goes to Court
What began as a brawl in a Brooklyn yeshiva dorm over a revered rabbi has left six members of a Jewish patrol group facing gang assault charges in a state Supreme Court trial that started Monday.
The fight – over whether the late Rabbi Menachem Schneerson is an emissary of God – also led to broken bones, a $150 million lawsuit and a battle between two rival patrol groups.
“I’m going to call the Messiah as my first witness,” defense lawyer Tedd Blecher quipped after the trial’s first day.
With six defense lawyers objecting at once, a kibitzing crowd and the first witness having trouble telling six bearded defendants apart, the trial veered close to farce.
The defendants, members of the Shomrim watch group, face 15 years – and prosecutors were serious when they told Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Albert Tomei of possible witness tampering just before opening statements. The six defendants were called to a Yeshiva dorm on Eastern Parkway to break up a fight between four members of the Messianic group and others on Dec. 29, 2007.
“It seems that the defendants had one goal and that was not to mediate,” Assistant District Attorney David Weiss told jurors. “It was to beat up a bunch of yeshiva students.”
Defense lawyers said the case was instigated by an attorney affiliated with Shomrim’s rival guard group who also filed the lawsuit.
god all mighty
The post as usual writes as is. While the daily news article looks as if the guy writting is so excited that there’s a fight between people beliving in the rebbe as god.
me myself and i
I finally undertand the big picture.
Its a question if shomrim went to the dorm to fight or break up a fight.
A jury or any resident in crown heights that can belive that the hershkops and crew went to 749 to beat guys up should be punished themselves…
…By spending a night in that “dorm”.
baal teshuva
I was a child I came to 770 with my dad and stood at the back entrance to 770 all of a sudden this huge guys came and pushed me over knocking me to the ground. After gathering myself I realized that the rebbe walked in and I was in the “shvil”.
Years later its after 3 tamuz and I was in 770 mincha time the time that the rebbe would make his way into 770
I closed my eyes and remembered the last time I saw the rebbe by that farbrengan and just wished that out of no were the rebbe would apear.
Suddenly out of no were I get a shove it was like the shov I received many years earler it was like a rude awakening. I opened my eyes and looked and
OH I WAS STANDING IN THE “SHVILL”
Except that this time it was a yellow decorated person who gave me a look of disrespect bc I was “IN THE WAY”
supporter who donated $$
Yes, of course Shomrim went in there & said “Right, guys, lest beat these morons to a pulp.” The only truth there is the “morons.”
How can this prosecutor say such a thing? Doesn’t he know ANYTHING about the goal of Shomrim?
I’ll be a witness. They saved ME from a bunch of Blacks once. They never raised their voices, forget about their hands.
The Tsfatim are the ones who should be prosecuted. Their agenda is clear. Huebner should be run out of town & treated as the moser he is…he should be in cherem. I feel bad for his kids, imagine going through life as the son of such a rasha.
anti huebner
huebner should be put into a public chairem. if the rabbonim don’t want to do do it, we should. the truth will come out once this trial is over. and then we will all see that shmira was behind this blood libel.
moshiach now!!
Mendel
Crown Heights you brought this upon yourselves.
The Moshichist Movement you supported and its progeny will stoop to the lowest level of morality. There is nothing they wouldn’t do. From the public humiliation of the Rebbe across Israel and the West Side HWY, to the eating on tish beav and the attempted murder of Rabbi Bistritzky. And noe Blood Libels with the Thugs themselves pressing charges (!). These all began from the kernel of Meshichism that you so enthusiastically supported in the 90’s.
You created this animal, now live with it.
discusting
what a ‘shanda’ and heubner should be put in chairem!
Save the Shomrim Six!
Why HAVEN’T the Rabbonim put Huebner in cherem? Or is that a loaded question?
I think to a large extent, Mendel is right. If we would have stopped this nonsense 15 years ago we wouldn’t be seeing this stuff going on now.
ex CHer
The first start to all this is to ship all them yellow flag, pin wearing cowards back to hell where they belong….
Secondly, CHEREM for ANYONE involved in this…
This cannot be tolerated….
Next thing you know if this doesn’t happen is a) “IRS: This is Mendy from CH – Zalman owns a store and charged me sales tax and then put it in his pocket b) Anyone that has any legal matters will take it before a judge and not a beis din.
The REBBE left us 15 years ago, let’s make him smile down on us and not frown. Let’s make his chasidim worth coming back down to when moshiach comes..
ATTENTION POSTER HANGERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Let’s get some pictures of …….
Let’s get some pictures of their families.
Let’s the shechunah know who we’re dealing with.
what a creep
I heard Huebner never won a case. Let’s hope his luck continues.
din torah
what happend at the din torah???
why is their no mention of it.???
please let us know!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cher
why are the shmira even involved? If shomrim came to break up a fight, and allegedly beat up some guys- why are shmira butting in? this just proves, that shmira set them up, or are trying to get them.
antimesira
All the defendants (the shomrim 6) in this case are family heads and have responsible jobs in our community.
We see them everyday and a lot of us interact with them on a daily basis.
Why in the world, would a group of people leave the comfort of there home (some having wifes and children) to go beat up a bunch of people they don’t even know?
All this is a viscous blood liable that got out of control.
Sadly the people who are behind this (shmira; chabad.info and co.) are rejoicing and justifying etc…
The Reshayim go as far as throwing the blame on the Shomrim Six for not taking any plea deals. How stupid is that?
If your not guilty you don’t take any deal (no matter how big or small the punishment is). Maybe that is just their train of thought (thinking of guilty people).
no more excuses
People!
We must show support and show up in court, the community must show up and say enough t is enough!
If possible donate a few dollars, even $5 goes a long way.
It’s only a 10 minute train ride.
I was there yesterday and I will be there tomorrow and the day after. Shomrim was there for me and I will be there for them. and even if they weren’t, these are people with families and jobs etc… You must help another Jew no matter what.
This is not about what happened that night at 749, this runs much deeper then that, there is a bigger picture that effects all of us.
Noah
“’I’m going to call the Messiah as my first witness,’ defense lawyer Tedd Blecher quipped”
What a Chilul Hashem. The Rebbe wanted everyone talking about Moshiach, but not like this…
esther
mendel,it’s easy to hate.how can you possibly lump everyone who“wears a yellow pin” into the category?BH here in california we all get along and takeh love each other.15 years after gimmel tamuz it’s safe to say you guys should learn from us instead of the other way around.
Been there...
Enough with the talk! There needs to be ACTION! All those who have had a missing child found, who have had a family member in a wheel chair carried up a flight of stairs, who have had protection while afraid walking in the street, who have had gas delivered to their car, who have had their tires changed, YOU should ALL show up in court tomorrow and the day after. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT WITH ACTION not only words – that is what they need now.
leib skoblo kuloi potz
how sad it is that we even have to talk about this mesira
but fact is a fact and we have to put thiere families in a cherem like skoblo who was the first moiser his family should have to suffer. hecht who was instigatng the mesira yet his father was speard by the community his family should suffer.
just like the small kids and wifes and brothers and sisters of the shomrim 6 are suffering now .
time for action hubner family skoblo family hecht family and everyone who is associated with this mosrim group shoulod feel the pain maybe than something will happend here.
to esther
bending the rules to please the natzi mashichisim is not the answere thier religon is not jewish get it ?
Ahavas Yisroel against Sinas Chinam
as an outsider and reading all your comments I plainly say that their is no achdus in crownheights. Their is no one to blame except every person himself who does not have any achdus with his neighbor. Hashem has his reasons for this trial taking place and it is not us to blame or question anyone. From the comments I read here and from the whole story place there is no achdus and only sinas chinum taking place in crownheights. The rebbe if he were to see this would be having 10 farbrengens about this and he would be screaming. I think everybody should start to love their fellow jew no matter what type of chassid, person or personality he has. At the end of the day the goyishe courts are having a field day of this trial between religious jew to religious jew and in the end we are causing a chillul hashem. Let us all have achdus and ahavas yisroel and pour your hearts out to stop all these gezeiros against us.
yeshiva BOYS my foot...
I can’t fathom how the DA – btw, his name is David Weiss (Jewish enough) could ever think that the Shomrim’s motive was to “beat the Yeshiva boys to a pulp”.
Lifshitz is right – these “Yeshiva Boys” are quite large compared to the Shomrim 6 – so it’s all a matter of perspective and the truth is pretty clear.
The DA, Jury, and Judge should open up their eyes and see the truth.
Save the Shomrim Six!!!
kick him out....
Huebner and all involved should be put into a cherim.
Effective immediately.
We don’t need drug-lords, liars, and tattle-tails in our community.
in the know
Huebner and the bochurim did meet with the Rabbonim at 10:30 p.m. and they promised they would not show up in court. They actually sent someone else to court, {a witness} who brought papers from Huebner telling the court that they were intimidated by the Rabbonim to pull the case out of court.
The Chilul Hashem that this case has generated by being written about in the media and by being presented in front of a jury is just heartbreaking.
Enough with the lies and the Mesira.
Walls have ears
Huebner and the bochurim did meet with the Rabbonim at 10:30 p.m. and they promised they would not show up in court. They actually sent someone else to court, {a witness} who brought papers from Huebner telling the court that they were intimidated by the Rabbonim to pull the case out of court.
we NEED Peace
to Mendel and all the others who agree with him: I am not trying to attack anyone i jjust have a point or two i would like to make. The fact that there is a quarrel of sorts betwwen 2 groups in CH, one being ‘mishechist’, doesnt make their actions “what mishechists do” it is what that individual does. maybe the members of shmira are mishichist but they did not break away from shomrim because of their beliefs. these things always happen for other reasons like power and people build stuff around it to cover up the true reason. and just because a few individuals who may label themselves as part of a group do something wrong doesnt mean every one else in that group is wrong as well. when there is a Jew in the media who broke the law/involved in crime, like the one who stole all those peoples money, how would you feel if the media now says because of that case,all Jews are criminals and need to be kicked out of the counry? steriotypes are wrong. and bringing yourself down just to call people names is so very appropriate that i am going to support so readly. We should try for a bt more ahavas yisroel and not take every oppurtunity to bash those we disagree with. as the saying goes, “live and let live”, we should all try to live in harmony with Moshiach Now!!
bird said
mendel go to bnei brak
catch 22
Here we see clearly were shomrim tried to work it out. They tried to make a bais din but instead this pig took the offer and backstabed!!
Sydney
Come to Sydney and everything will be ok.
CH Esq.
I am horrified and nauseated to see 6 yidden on trial for political reasons. No good will come to this Huebner for creating and escalating this to a public spectacle. I for one am going to speak about this as much as I can. Whereever I can. And I am going to write whatever politicians I know, and I know alot. And I am not going to give up. And I will not stop even if B’H the case is dismissed. I never paid attention to the Shmira/Shomrim controversy and only recently learned of this travesty of our justice system. And I hope Huebner hear s about my threat — Because I will carry through. And I am not from CH and dont suffer the myopia that seems to have affected our leadership. And I am making this my cause.
manhattan
how can anyone believe in this this should be thrown out its a waste of the judges time was this a fight??? this should be worked out $140 million dollars is this a joke? let us not waste time on this behavior maaybe some community time might be deserving how can we even think that no judge threw this out!!!!! people have fights press cvharges and spend a day or two in jail maybe even fined dont think so but this what is it costing for defense? what does it cost the city while the murderers and crooks are out on the street? You have personal gripes with the two different sects within your own commuities grow up WHAT WOULD THE REBBE THINK???? what kind of a chillul hashem is this can mashiach come??????