On Monday, a Brooklyn judge for the second time postponed the start of
chasidic abuse whistleblower Sam Kellner’s trial. The move, which
effectively delays the trial until after the Democratic primaries in
which Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is seeking re-election,
came in response to a request from prosecutors to continue an
investigation [into the DA's own tainted witness] that court documents show they began 10 months ago but did
not disclose to Kellner’s attorneys until the eve of his first trial
date, July 8.
Hella Winston writes in the Jewish Week:
On Monday, a Brooklyn judge for the second time postponed the start of chasidic abuse whistleblower Sam Kellner’s trial. The move, which effectively delays the trial until after the Democratic primaries in which Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is seeking re-election, came in response to a request from prosecutors to continue an investigation [into the DA's own tainted witness] that court documents show they began 10 months ago but did not disclose to Kellner’s attorneys until the eve of his first trial date, July 8. Kellner’s attorneys filed a new motion on July 26 to dismiss the case.
Kellner, who after his own son was abused was instrumental in helping prosecutors build a sex abuse case against Baruch Lebovits, a cantor and prominent member of the Munkacs chasidic community, is charged with paying a witness The Jewish Week refers to as “Yoel” to falsely testify against Lebovits, and with trying to extort the Lebovits family. Kellner’s trial is now set to begin on Sept. 30, almost three weeks after the Democratic primary in which Hynes is running for re-election to a seventh term. His opponent is former federal prosecutor Kenneth Thompson.…
In May, a source came forward to The Jewish Week with a recording of a secretly taped conversation in which Yoel says that a man named Zalmen Ashkenazi told him to “go against” Kellner and got him a lawyer. Around the same time The Jewish Week learned of the recording, Kellner’s attorneys alerted prosecutors to its existence and contents, and urged them to question Yoel, who has been living in Israel, about his statements on it. The prosecutors eventually did so and, in two separate interviews in late June and early July, Yoel not only contradicted his past sworn statements about Kellner — effectively destroying his credibility as a witness against him — but acknowledged that Ashkenazi had been paying for his travel, apartment, school and legal expenses; Yoel also told prosecutors he was not allowed to travel to the United States without Ashkenazi’s permission.
Ashkenazi’s brother, Berel, was a character witness at Lebovits’ trial. At the trial, prosecutors presented documentary evidence (a rabbinical court ruling) indicating that Berel had attempted to suppress the witness’s testimony, promising that he would “help” the witness with whatever was “in his ability” after the witness removed “himself altogether from the [secular courts]” (prosecutors also had police notes indicating that Berel offered the witness money to drop his charges).…
Read it all here.