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. [..]
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."[...[
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