Shaul Spitzer resentenced as youthful offender; to be released

Shaul Spitzer convinced Judge William Kelly Tuesday to give him youthful offender status and release him after serving 3 1/2 years in prison for seriously burning a New Square dissident while trying to torch the man's house in 2011.

Kelly told the packed courtroom — including more than 40 New Square supporters and victim Aron Rottenberg — that he started the day thinking he would deny Spitzer early release from a seven-year prison term.

But Kelly said he thought over what Spitzer had told him in court Tuesday morning and changed his mind during the lunch break in the resentencing proceedings.

Kelly said he came away convinced that prison life had matured Spitzer and his attack on the Rottenberg family spurred from immaturity, being naive and a bid to impress the New Square Hasidic Jewish leadership and grand rabbi David Twersky. Spitzer was working and living in Twersky's home as a butler at the time.

"I got the impression he was sincere," the judge said of Spitzer's statement to the court. "I'm not worried what people will think (of me). I doubt he will ever appear before me again. I am sure of it."

The judge's decision brought smiles and cheers from Spitzer's supporters, as his lawyers hugged and he beamed. Outside the courtroom, his supporters walked down the hallway loudly happily announcing the decision to people over cell phones.

An appeals court had sent the case back to Kelly for resentencing earlier this year, saying the judge needed to weigh whether Spitzer should have been considered a youthful offender. He was 18 at the time of the crime.

Spitzer admitted at his original sentencing that he tried to burn down Rottenberg's Truman Avenue house at 4:22 a.m. May 22, 2011, because Rottenberg refused to follow Twersky's rules. Spitzer denied he acted on anyone's behalf. When Rottenberg confronted Spitzer, the teen's firebomb exploded, burning Rottenberg across more than 50 percent of his body.

Before the attack, the Skver Hasidic leadership had targeted Rottenberg for refusing to pray in Twersky's synagogue. Residents protested outside his house and broke his property; the leadership kicked his daughter of school and ordered a boycott of his plumbing business.

The New Square Skver community eventually gave Rottenberg and his wife a more than $3 million settlement to cover Rottenberg's medical bills and buy his house on Truman Avenue.

Rottenberg asked Kelly on Tuesday to keep Spitzer in jail, saying he can't use his right arm effectively after skin grafts and other operations to treat his burns. He said his family, which was inside the home at the time, still suffers from the pain of the attack.

Spitzer told Kelly that "I know what I did was inexcusable. I know that 3 1/2 years ago I was immature."

He said he thought by going after Rottenberg on his own he could change the situation to what Twersky and the religious leadership wanted.

"That was my childish calculation that my actions would change things," he said. "What I did turned out to be harmful for the community."

Kelly, in handing down the new sentence, noted that Rottenberg had asked for lenience at Spitzer's original sentencing 3 1/2 years ago. A plea offer in the case had called for a 10-year sentence, but the judge decided then to go with even less.

Rottenberg said Tuesday that he was glad Kelly let him speak at the resentencing. He said it was ironic the judge cited his leniency plea 3 1/2 years ago as part of the justification for youth offender status, which will seal Spitzer's record as well as shorten his sentence to time served.

"We didn't expect it," he said of the judge's decision."People say he is a fair judge, a judge who makes fair decisions. I am happy the way the DA helped us."

Spitzer's lawyer, Paul Shechtman, spoke glowing to Kelly about how Spitzer changed in prison and was happy the judge agreed.

"I was betting against us until Shaul Spitzer spoke," Shechtman said. "His word carried the day. His remorse to the judge was genuine. His maturity was real. The trick was for his lawyers to get out of the way,"

Kenneth Gribetz, a former Rockland district attorney, also represented Spitzer along with Deborah Loewenberg.

"Justice was done," Gribetz said. "The judge said it. Shaul is a different person from the one he sentenced 3 1/2 years ago. Judge Kelly is an honorable man who does the right thing."

Spitzer is a distant relative of New Square Mayor Israel Spitzer, who took office Aug. 7. He said Shaul Spitzer deserves a second chance.

"The judge saw a different Shaul Spitzer," he said. "He saw the real Shaul Spitzer. We are extremely happy with the fact that justice has been done."

Spitzer had been held in the Eastern Correctional Facility, where his religious needs — including a rabbi for daily prayer and kosher food — were being met.

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