Three Innocent in Beating of Rabbi

(adapted from The Times Herald Record, 10/22/97)

By DAVID KIBBE

KIRYAS JOEL- Three yeshiva students who were accused of assaulting a dissident rabbi in January 1995, have been found not guilty at the conclusion of a one-day trial in Monroe Town Court.

Moshe Simon, age unavailable, Michael Steinmetz, 23, and Jacob Weiss, 21, were found not guilty of third-degree assault and criminal mischief, misdemeanors, in a written decision signed Oct. 17 by Monroe Town Justice Jack J. Rosenthal.

The three men are among seven people who were accused of punching Rabbi Nathan Hecht on the back of the head, knocking him to the ground and kicking and stepping on him on Jan. 24, 1995, at the Senior Citizen Center on Forest Road.

Hecht went to the Arden Hill Hospital emergency room in Goshen a few days later and was treated for cuts and bruises. Hecht, who required a translator to speak to State Police, identified the three defendants several days after the assault.

Two of the defendants said they witnessed a scuffle and one said he passed by, but all three denied taking part in it, said their lawyer, Benjamin Ostrer of Chester. Ostrer said another defendant pleaded guilty to a violation in connection with the case, and the others are awaiting trial. Hecht and all three defendants testified during the trial.

After the assault, State Police investigators took notes of an interview in which Hecht identified the defendants. However, Rosenthal said the Orange County district attorney's office did not turn the original notes over to the defense. Rosenthal ruled that he legally had to hold the identification in doubt because the defense was not given the chance to review the original notes.