Shaul Spitzer, a follower of the New Square grand rebbe, faces five to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced this morning for first-degree assault in the attack on Aron Rottenberg at 4:15 a.m. May 22 during an attempt to burn down the family's home on Truman Avenue in New Square.
Spitzer is scheduled to be sentenced in state Supreme Court in New City.
Rottenberg, 44, once a plumber, continues to recover from third-degree burns over 50 percent of his body, suffered when Spitzer set off an incediary device while grappling with Rottenberg. Spitzer suffered burns to his hands and arms.
Spitzer faced a sentence of 5 to 25 years. Before Spitzer pleaded guilty Feb. 8, state Supreme Court Justice William A. Kelly told the teenager that he would cap his prison term at 10 years.
Kelly came down from his original 15-year cap after Rottenberg suggested leniency and the Rockland prosecutors offered 10 years.
Spitzer's lawyers optimistically hope for five years, allowing Spitzer to get out earlier with good behavior. He's being represented by former Rockland County District Attorney Kenneth Gribetz and former prosecutor Deborah Wolikow Loewenberg of New City, as well as Paul Shectman of Manhattan.
"We're appealing to the court and will be asking the court to render the minimum sentence of five years," Gribetz said. "Five years is a hard sentence for anyone. But for a young man who has lived in New Square for his entire life, the sentence will be even tougher."
Prosecutor Stephen Moore will call for the 10-year sentence agreed to when Spitzer pleaded guilty, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.
In the autumn months of 2010 before arson attack, groups of New Square followers of grand rebbe David Twersky had protested outside the homes of Rottenberg and several other families in the 57-year-old Skver Hasidic Jewish community.
Rottenberg and other dissident residents became targets when they bucked the stringent rabbinical rules and prayed outside the village's synagogue on the Sabbath. They prayed with the patients at the Friedwald House rehabilitation center on New Hempstead Road.
Rottenberg became a symbol for some younger residents who desire independence from the rigid social rules set by Twersky. Others have thought Rottenberg was wrong to challenge Twersky, contending he chose to live in New Square and should abide by the rabbi's rules.
Rottenberg and others had their car and house windows smashed. At least one family moved out of the village.
Rottenberg said his daughter was kicked out of school, his plumbing business boycotted and efforts to sell his house blocked by the religious theocracy that controls the village and answers to Twersky.
Rottenberg negotiated a peace with the community's religious hierarchy. He had hoped to be left alone to sell his house and move out if he kept silent about the pressure and other issues within the community.
The peace lasted for several months until about week before the arson attack, during which time Rottenberg has said he received threatening telephone calls. He had installed surveillance cameras, and his son monitored the camera early one morning when a man tossed an incendiary device on the back porch. Rottenberg confronted the masked man, who turned out to be Spitzer.
Spitzer worked as a butler for the grand rebbe and lived in his home. At one point, Rottenberg and his family blamed Twersky for inciting Spitzer and the violence.
Spitzer admitted during his guilty plea that he acted because of Rottenberg's defiance of the grand rebbe's edict that all his followers pray in the community's only synagogue on Truman Avenue, down the block from Rottenberg's home.
Gribetz said Spitzer is remorseful and contrite.
Rottenberg became a symbol for some younger residents who desire independence from the rigid social rules set by Twersky. Others have thought Rottenberg was wrong to challenge Twersky, contending he chose to live in New Square and should abide by the rabbi's rules.
tenberg and others had their car and house windows smashed. At least one family moved out of the village.
Rottenberg said his daughter was kicked out of school, his plumbing business boycotted and efforts to sell his house blocked by the religious theocracy that controls the village and answers to Twersky.
Rottenberg negotiated a peace with the community's religious hierarchy. He had hoped to be left alone to sell his house and move out if he kept silent about the pressure and other issues within the community.
The peace lasted for several months until about week before the arson attack, during which time Rottenberg has said he received threatening telephone calls. He had installed surveillance cameras, and his son monitored the camera early one morning when a man tossed an incendiary device on the back porch. Rottenberg confronted the masked man, who turned out to be Spitzer.
Spitzer worked as a butler for the grand rebbe and lived in his home. At one point, Rottenberg and his family blamed Twersky for inciting Spitzer and the violence.
Spitzer admitted during his guilty plea that he acted because of Rottenberg's defiance of the grand rebbe's edict that all his followers pray in the community's only synagogue on Truman Avenue, down the block from Rottenberg's home.
Gribetz said Spitzer is remorseful and contrite.
"He knows there's no excuse for what he did," Gribetz said. "Without being overly dramatic, he cries and prays every day for Aron Rottenberg to recover."
why is this case at a court and not in Beth Din?
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