Crown Heights
Indictments
New York (JTA) — The indict-
ment of Lemrick Nelson Jr. on
charges that he violated the civ-
il rights of Yankel Rosenbaum
has renewed hope for those who
have spent three years fighting
to bring the killers to justice.
Mr. Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old
Talmud student from Australia,
was murdered Aug. 19, 1991, on
the first of three nights of black
rioting in Crown Heights, Brook-
lyn.
However, some dose to the ef-
fort, asserting that federal in-
vestigators have failed to collect
testimony from eyewitnesses to
the murder, say they fear the gov-
ernment will again fail to get Mr.
Nelson convicted.
Mr. Nelson was acquitted of
criminal charges in a New York
state court in 1992 after jurors
reportedly found inconsistencies
in police testimony.
Mr. Nelson celebrated the ver-
dict with jurors at a restaurant
after his acquittal.
Mr. Nelson, now 18, was ar-
rested with a bloody knife in his
pocket. He was the only person
ever brought to trial for Mr.
Rosenbaum's murder.
His indictment on federal
charges has been sealed until a
judge decides whether Nelson
will be tried as an adult or as a
juvenile.
Norman Rosenbaum, Yankel's
brother, has spent the last three
years doggedly pursuing justice
for his brother's murderers by
chasing after state and federal of-
ficials from Brooklyn to Wash-
ington during close to 30 trips to
the United States from his home
near Melbourne, Australia.
Intense lobbying from Mr.
Rosenbaum, along with Crown
Heights Jewish community
members and U.S. Rep. Charles
Schumer, D-N.Y., apparently per-
suaded U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno to pursue a federal
civil rights case against Mr. Nel-
son.
Mr. Schumer praised the in-
dictment, saying in a statement:
"Yankel Rosenbaum was mur-
dered because he was a Jew. And
like the Rodney King beating, his
case deserves the federal civil
rights prosecution that it will not
receive."
However, some of those close
to Mr. Rosenbaum question Ms.
Reno's commitment to getting
Mr. Nelson convicted on the fed-
eral charges.
Rabbi Joseph Spielman, chair-
man of the Crown Heights Jew-
ish Community Council, said that
Ms. Reno and the Justice De-
partment should be pursuing in-
dictments beyond Mr. Nelson and
Mr. Rosenbaum's other murder-
ers.
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