Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson dropped hate crime charges against Yitzchak Shuchat, a member of the Crown Heights Shmira street patrol who used a police baton in 2008 to attack a young black man. Shuchat fled to Israel and fought extradition for years. He was finally extraditied earlier this year and Thompson just gave him the sweetheat plea deal of all time.
Above: Yitzchak Shuchat
One Day in Prison: Brooklyn DA Does Sweetheart Plea Deal With Chabad Street Patrol Member Who Beat Innocent Black Teen
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson dropped hate crime charges against Yitzchak Shuchat, a member of the Crown Heights Shmira street patrol who used a police baton in 2008 to attack a 20-year-old black man in an unprovoked assault after Shuchat and fellow Shmira members apparently mistook him for another man who had allegedly committed a crime in the neighborhood.
Shuchat fled to Canada and then Israel to escape prosecution and fought extradition for years. He was finally extradited earlier this year to Brooklyn to stand trial and pleaded guilty to felony assault late last week.
The hate crimes charge was added about one year after the incident by then-Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes.
Fleeing prosecution and an unprovoked violent assault was not enough for Thompson to buck the powerful hasidic community.
Instead, Shuchat was given a sweetheart plea deal that will see him serve only one day in jail and perform 25 days of community service. Sentencing guidelines call for a 2-year to 7-year sentence. But to pave the way for that deal, the hate crimes charge had to first be dropped.
“Today’s guilty plea is an appropriate disposition of this matter because the facts of the case simply did not support a hate crime and there were no serious injuries,” Thompson reportedly said.
In the case of a violent assault against anti-child-sex-abuse activist Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, in which the Satmar hasidic assailant tried to blind Rosenberg by throwing bleach in his eyes, Thompson gave the perpetrator a no-prison plea deal and justified it by saying Rosenberg’s injuries were not serious or permanent. Yet almost two years after the assault, Rosenberg still suffers pain and discomfort and must use prescription eye medication on a daily basis.
“Bias is a very serious crime. We want our police and our courts to pursue bias crimes with full vigor, but only when the charges are justified. No one should ever be accused of this if it is not true. I am delighted that we have a man of Ken Thompson’s caliber as the Brooklyn District Attorney, pursuing justice, and happy that everyone involved in this case can now move forward with their lives,” New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind said, reflecting the haredi and Chabad viewpoint that the hate crime charge was unwarranted – even though it was clear Shuchat’s victim, the son of a NYPD officer, was targeted at least in part because of his skin color. Hikind previously openly fought against Shuchat’s extradition.
It is unusual for prosecutors to drop charges and make sweetheart plea deals with felons who flee prosecution – especially if they flee to a foreign country and fight extradition.
Thompson has made a series of decisions favoring the haredi community since taking office in January, from making a sweetheart no-prison plea deal with the Satmar hasidic man who assaulted Rosenberg, to making similar deals with other hasidic criminals, to failing to prosecute the hasidim who brought false evidence against hasidic child sex abuse whistleblower Sam Kellner to the DA. That false evidence lead to Kellner’s wrongful arrest and prosecution.
Since taking office, Thompson has also become close to several top Satmar community leaders – including at least one linked to the Kellner case.
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