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Revision as of 21:04, 27 July 2010

Lemrick Nelson, Jr. is an American who took part in the murder of Yankel Rosenbaum during the 1991 Crown Heights riot. After three trials, he was convicted of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights, and served a ten-year sentence.

Background

After seven-year-old African American Gavin Cato was accidentally killed by a Jewish motorist on August 19, 1991, some black residents of Crown Heights rioted. Shortly after the riot began, a group of approximately 20 young black men (including Nelson) surrounded Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old University of Melbourne student in the United States conducting doctoral research. They stabbed him several times in the back and beat him severely, fracturing his skull. Before being taken to the hospital, Rosenbaum was able to identify 16-year-old Lemrick Nelson, Jr. as his assailant in a line-up shown to him by the police. Rosenbaum died later that night.

Trials

Though Nelson contended that religion had not been a factor in his decision to join the mob—that he had been drinking alcohol and gotten "caught up in the excitement"—prosecutors at his trial said Nelson had told a police officer he had heard someone shout "Let's get the Jew!" before he and the crowd attacked Rosenbaum.

Charged with murder, Nelson was acquitted in 1992 by a largely African-American jury. Some of them later attended a party to honor Nelson as a "hero."

After the Rodney King case, in 1993 some people suggested that the U.S. Department of Justice re-try Nelson under the federal criminal civil rights statute. Nelson was later convicted of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights and admitted for the first time at his 2003 trial that he had stabbed Rosenbaum. However, Nelson was only found to have violated Rosenbaum's civil rights, not to have directly caused the victim's death.

U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf, disappointed that Nelson had not been given a life sentence in his 2003 trial, said:

There was never any doubt that Lemrick Nelson was the person who stabbed , and there was never any doubt Lemrick Nelson stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum because he was Jewish. This jury today has found Lemrick Nelson guilty because of just that.

Aftermath

Nelson served a total of ten years, and was released from prison on June 2, 2004. In an interview with the New York Post, Nelson indicated that he had stopped drinking. Nelson has declined to apologize to the victim's family.

Edward Shapiro, a historian at Brandeis University has called the riot "the most serious anti-Semitic incident in American history."

References

  1. "Lemrick Nelson, Again", by Lawrence A. Hoffman, The Jewish Week, August 25, 1994, accessed July 27, 2010]
  2. Wilson, Judy (2006). "Crown Heights riot—fact, fiction, and plenty of blame". New Jersey Jewish News. Retrieved October 20, 2007. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Newman, Andy (May 15, 2003). "The Crown Heights Verdict – Overview – Mixed Verdict On Crown Hts. – Defense Happy". New York City; Crown Heights (Nyc): The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
  4. Gerhard Falk, The American Criminal Justice System: How It Works, How It Doesn't, and How to Fix It, ABC-CLIO, 2010, p. 50, accessed July 27, 2010
  5. "New York Forum About Lemrick Nelson; Pleading For The Fifth", by James B. Jacobs, Newsday, May 4, 1993, accessed July 27, 2010
  6. Gourevitch, Philip (1993). "The Crown Heights Riot & Its Aftermath". The Jewish Forward. Archived from the original on February 20, 2004. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. Newman, Andy (August 21, 2003). "Penalty in Crown Hts. Case Means a Little More Jail Time". The New York Times. Retrieved March 3, 2009.
  8. "End of New York Crown Heights Riot Court Case Bittersweet for Parents who Lost Children". JET. September 8, 2003. p. 15. Retrieved July 27, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. "Lemrick Guilty – but he faces only 2 years in jail", by Kati Cornell Smith, New York Post, May 15, 2003, accessed July 27, 2010]
  10. John Marzulli and Dave Godiner (June 3, 2004). "Lemrick Nelson's Out of Jail". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 27, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. Goldstein, Joseph (May 16, 2010). "Crown Heights riot figure Lemrick Nelson lives quietly in Hillside, New Jersey". New York Post. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
  12. Shapiro, Edward S. (2006). Crown heights: Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn riot. Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press, University Press of New England. p. xi. ISBN 1584655615. Retrieved October 20, 2007.

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