New Square Shaul Spitzer gets 7 years jail!!!!!!!!!!!

Silver Member Joined: Nov 07 2010 Age: 33 Posts: 777

Shaul Spitzer, a follower of the New Square grand rebbe, has been sentenced to seven years in prison 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 was sentenced this morning 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 five 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 hoped for five years, allowing Spitzer to get out earlier with good behavior. He was 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.

Prosecutor Stephen Moore called for the 10-year sentence agreed to when Spitzer pleaded guilty, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.

In the autumn months of 2010 before the 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.

You need to change the title- he didn't kill anyone. Not that his crime wasn't horrible......
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Silver Member Joined: Feb 28 2011 Posts: 892

I just heard.... Its so painful and sad! Crying or Very sad

Poor parents n family!

Moderator Joined: Aug 14 2005 Posts: 4536 Location: Ohio

What MerryMom said. x 2. If he had been successful in his attempt, the whole family would be dead.
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Senior Member Joined: Nov 03 2011 Posts: 148

Umm... what's painful and sad???? That someone who tried to kill a family actually has to pay for his actions??? I hope you are referring to the fact that he only received 7 years jail time as opposed to a much longer sentence.

Platinum Member Joined: Nov 04 2008 Posts: 7894

Gold Member Joined: Nov 17 2010 Posts: 1015

The pain and sadness for me are based on the fact that someone actually committed this type of vile act against fellow human beings. We're supposed to be better than that, aren't we? I'm glad the system works and that Spitzer will spend the next phase of his life as a guest of the state. And I'd like to put forth a gentle reminder that the prison culture has their own brand of justice, not dissimilar to what Spitzer thought the Rottenbergs deserved. Since he didn't mind dishing it out, he should have no problem being on the receiving end, right??

He could have gotten 25 years -- seems like a relatively light sentence.
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Diamond Member Joined: Jun 09 2009 Posts: 3227

I don't understand why they would let this guy back on the streets after 7 years. For the safety of everyone else around, I wish they weould give him life in prison. There are people who get much longer sentences, and his crime couldn't have been better than theirs- he tried to murder a bunch of people. I hope he never comes near my neighborhood.

Gold Member Joined: Feb 08 2012 Posts: 1039 Location: USA

I am relieved that there is a punishment for his crime. It was a horrific incident, I only feel sorry for him from the perspective that he is so young and therefore it is possible that he has not yet learned to think very well for himself and he has clearly been badly brainwashedn and has received a seriously strange and lacking chinuch. and what a chilul Hashem.

Diamond Member Joined: Mar 11 2010 Posts: 3063

I'm disgusted that the grand rabbi got off scott free (sp?).

Well, you do the crime, you do the time. A shame he didnt spill his guts as to exactly who put him up to this. And he should count his lucky stars that he only got 7 years. For attempted murder the minimum can also be 20 years.

Gold Member Joined: Aug 23 2011 Posts: 1573

I wonder what they did/said to Rottenberg to make him suggest leniency.

Executive Member Joined: Sep 14 2011 Posts: 475

Executive Member Joined: Sep 14 2011 Posts: 475

just for the record, Rottenberg's issue was never with Spitzer personally.... the issue is how things run in NS, and the mafia/communsit lifetyle of that town....

Sptizer was just a prop used by people who are much "higher" then him. He is an 18 year old boy who grew up in a sheltered environment dictated by one man and a small group of people... yes he does have choices and should know what right and wrong, but for some1 who has been shown only one way all his life (brainwashed?) it's not easy to realize what's right and wrong.

Rottenberg's 'crime' was that he did not daven in the "grand Synagag" with the grand rebbe on shabbos....

In NS there is only ONE minyan on shabbos at 10 AM, any1 who wants to daven earlier (and on time?!?!) is out of luck because the "grand Rebbe" of NS has decided that the town must daven w/ him.

the "rebbe" also has final say about who sells and buys houses in NS... when Rottenberg tried to sell his house (many moons prior to this even) no1 would touch his house because the Rebbe did not permit (communism?)

So before every1 starts making bad remarks against sptizer, just remember that he is just a puppet in a much larger picture.

Platinum Member Joined: Nov 04 2008 Posts: 7894