Molest Jury Is ‘split’

By Josh Saul
New York Post
December 8, 2012

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/molest_jury_is_split_KyZ1NgQdPL1V30CZYWncUP

The Hasidic leader on trial for molesting a young girl could actually beat the charges if the jurors are as split on his guilt as the alternates released yesterday.

“I didn’t have enough evidence to nail the person. No video, no DNA,” said one of the alternates, who were excused as the jurors began deliberating.

“There wasn’t enough evidence for me. Both sides were a little shady,” said the middle-aged juror, who declined to reveal her name.

Nechmya Weberman, 54, allegedly forced himself on the girl, starting at age 12, for three years while she was being sent to him for counseling, prosecutors charge.

The two-week Brooklyn Supreme Court trial has provided a rare glimpse into the cloistered world of the Satmar sect, an ultra-Orthodox community of which both Weberman and the teen are members.

Two other alternate jurors said they would have voted to acquit Weberman of some of the 60 counts he faces.

“I still think there is enough evidence to convict — some of the charges, at least,” said a male juror in his 30s.

He would have convicted Weberman of sex abuse and child endangerment but not on the top count of sexual conduct against a child, he said.

Weberman could face 25 years on the top count alone.