GOSHEN — The judge handling the murder-for-hire case against
a Brooklyn rabbi has removed himself from the case — because defendant Victor
Koltun apparently tried to get someone to kill the judge, according to court
papers.
Koltun, 44, faces first- and second-degree murder charges in
the 2010 killings of former Lloyd cop Frank Piscopo, 49, and his nephew, Gerald
Piscopo, 28, of Highland. Koltun is charged with hiring two ex-cons to act as
gunman and lookout, and luring Frank Piscopo to a vacant house in Newburgh in
order to kill him.
The case has been beset by delays; the most recent was due
to a federal lawsuit Koltun filed against Orange County Court Judge Jeffrey
Berry and police and prosecutors involved in his case, alleging a broad
anti-Semitic conspiracy.
But Berry's decision to remove himself from the case had
other roots. In his recusal order, Berry spelled out what he and Senior
Assistant District Attorney David Byrne had only hinted at in two prior court
dates.
"Upon information and belief, defendant solicited
another person to effectuate the murder of this Jurist," Judge Berry wrote
in the decision Friday. If substantiated, that would be potential impeachment
evidence in the first-degree murder trial, and Berry would be "the subject
of testimony and/or a potential witness in the Trial of this indictment."
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