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Jurors in kidnapping conspiracy trial of Lakewood rabbi begin deliberations
By Maryann Spoto
TRENTON — Jurors began deliberating Wednesday afternoon in the trial of a Lakewood rabbi and three others accused of kidnapping Orthodox Jewish men and forcing them to grant their wives religious divorces. After hearing one last summation from one of the four defense attorneys and rebuttal from the prosecution,the jury of six men and six women who sat through eight weeks of testimony in the federal kidnapping conspiracy trial of Rabbi Mendel Epstein began discussions shortly before 3 p.m. Charged along with Epstein are his son, David "Ari" Epstein and rabbis Jay Goldstein and Binyamin Stimler, whom federal prosecutors contend terrorized and tortured men between 2009 and 2013 into giving their wives religious divorces, known as gets. The four defendants were arrested on Oct. 9, 2013, at a warehouse in Edison where they allegedly planned to ambush a husband they were told refused to give his wife a divorce. The husband was actually a fictional character of two undercover FBI agents who posed as the wife and her brother who wanted Epstein to help her secure her get. All four men are charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping. And all but the elder Epstein are charged either with kidnapping or attempted kidnapping. In their closing arguments held over Tuesday and Wednesday, defense attorneys claimed their clients were framed by another rabbi who sought to mitigate his own responsibility in one of the incidents. That rabbi, David Wax, testified that Epstein, who has homes in Lakewood and Brooklyn, arranged the kidnapping and torture of three men in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Wax also claimed that David Epstein participated in the Oct. 16, 2010, kidnapping at beating of Yisrael Meir Bryskman at Wax's home in Lakewood. Wax has already pleaded guilty to kidnapping in that case and is awaiting sentencing. Throughout the trial before U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson in Trenton, defense attorneys claimed Wax and his wife Judy Wax, who also pleaded guilty, fabricated the allegations against their clients because he wants to reduce the possible life sentence he faces. "Because to save themselves...they needed to provide substantial assistance against others," David Epstein's attorney, Henry Mazurek, said in his closing arguments on Wednesday. In the 2009 alleged kidnapping, Israeli national Israel Markowitz claimed David Epstein was the driver of a minivan that carried the men who ambushed him in a Lakewood parking lot. Mazurek argued to jurors that there was no way Markowitz, whose coat was pulled over his head before he was attacked, would have seen the driver's face. Mazurek tried to convince jurors that Markowitz was mistaken about the driver's identity. In his rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Gribko contended Markowitz's was confident in Epstein's identification. Gribko said it was no coincidence that Goldstein's cellphone sent and received phone calls near each of the crime scenes. Goldstein, who lives in Brooklyn, is charged in Markowitz's kidnapping and in the attempted kidnapping sting. "If Jay Goldstein is not involved in these kidnappings, he is an extremely unlucky man," Gribko said. Besides the conspiracy offense, Stimler is also charged with attempted kidnapping. Noting the injuries of the victims -- which included bruises, a broken nose and loose teeth -- , Gribko dismissed claims from Epstein's attorney, Robert Stahl, that his client exaggerated the extent of the force used in obtaining the gets. Stahl had argued on Tuesday that the confrontations with the husbands were meant to scare them into agreeing to a divorce. "That's not scaring somebody," Gribko said. "That's an assault followed by a kidnapping." Contact: mspoto@njadvancemedia.com
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