Incoming Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson Inserts Himself into Hasidic Sex Abuse Case

By Oren Yaniv
New York Daily News
November 15, 2013

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/incoming-brooklyn-da-inserts-hasidic-sex-abuse-case-article-1.1518780

Incoming Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson, left, and outgoing DA Charles Hynes, right.

In his first communication with the lame duck Brooklyn District Attorney, incoming DA Kenneth Thompson asked that a high profile sex abuse case against a Jewish cantor be pushed back until he takes office.

In a letter delivered Friday to DA Charles Hynes, Thompson requested to put the prosecution of Baruch Lebovits on hold until the new administration takes the helm at the start of 2014.

"I request that no disposition be offered to the Defendant, no guilty plea be allowed at the upcoming court conference (Tuesday) and that no procedural or substantive steps be taken in the case until I take office," Thompson wrote.

"We're going to comply with that request," DA spokesman Jerry Schmetterer said.

Baruch Lebovits was convicted of eight counts of sexually abusing a minor.

Prosecution and defense sources both said no sweetheart deal was on the table and some questioned why the elected DA chose to plunge himself now into the long-running case.

Lebovits was convicted in the spring of 2010 for abusing a boy and sentenced to 10 to 32 years in prison, but the judgment was overturned on appeal.

Prosecutors offered a sentence of three to nine years while defense lawyers tried to convince a judge to let the Hasidic cantor off with time-served, arguing the victim agreed to those terms, but their motion was denied.

Jewish anti-abuse activists started a petition drive ahead of Tuesday hearing, based on an assumption that a no-jail deal will be offered next week.

With his intervention, Thompson all but ensured that he'll inherit the Lebovits case along with a related - and equally convoluted - prosecution of Samuel Kellner, who's charged with bribing a witness to accuse Lebovits with abuse and with extorting the alleged molester's son.

Prosecutors appeared to punt the Kellner's case to the upcoming DA when they asked earlier this week to adjourn that case until January, after Thompson takes office.

Contact: oyaniv@nydailynews.com