No Verdict in Lakewood Rabbi Trial

By Shannon Mullen
Asbury Park press
April 16, 2015

http://www.app.com/story/news/crime/jersey-mayhem/2015/04/16/rabbi-mendel-epstein-trial/25895589/

Prosecutors say Rabbi Mendel Epstein employed a kidnap team to force unwilling husbands to divorce their wives.

The jury in the federal conspiracy and kidnapping trial of three rabbis – including Rabbi Mendel Epstein, of Lakewood – and a fourth defendant, Epstein's son and alleged enforcer, deliberated throughout the day Thursday without reaching a verdict.

Lakewood rabbi just boasting about kidnapping, lawyer says

The panel of six men and six women are scheduled to resume deliberations Monday.

Epstein, 69, is the alleged mastermind behind a series of assaults on men who refused to grant their wives divorces in accordance with Jewish law. He could face life in prison if convicted of kidnapping.

Prosecution: Rabbis carefully planned kidnappings

Some of the men testified during the trial that they were hooded, handcuffed, beaten, stomped and shocked into submission with a stun gun or cattle prod.

The attorneys for Epstein and his co-defendants – his son, David Epstein, of Lakewood, and two other rabbis, Jay Goldstein and Benyamin Stimler – say the government over-reached in trying the men on kidnapping-related charges.

Thursday was the jury's first full day of deliberations. Shortly before 1 p.m., the jury asked U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson to clarify whether or not witnessing a kidnapping and failing to intervene to stop it meets the federal definition of kidnapping.

The short answer: No.

The jury later also asked a question related to the requirements that have to be met to satisfy the charge of attempted kidnapping.

Shannon Mullen: 732-996-6921; smullen@app.com