Lemrick Nelson
Encyclopedia
Lemrick Nelson, Jr. is an African-American man who stabbed Hasidic
student Yankel Rosenbaum to death during the racial unrest of the 1991 Crown Heights riot
. Though his lawyer did not deny at his trial that Nelson stabbed Rosenbaum, he argued that the killing had nothing to do with Rosenbaum's being Jewish.
Nelson was arrested several times on unrelated charges over the following years. In a third trial for Rosenbaum's murder, Nelson was convicted of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights
in the murder, and served a ten-year sentence. Nelson admitted for the first time at his 2003 trial that he had stabbed Rosenbaum.
, Lemrick Nelson Sr. (formerly a baker) and his former wife, Valerie Evans. According to information presented by his lawyers in 1995, Nelson had a troubled childhood. His mother, who reportedly suffered from mental illness, repeatedly tried to abort
him before he was born. As an infant, he lived with his mother at a shelter for battered women. Nelson's earliest memories involved a physical altercation between his father and mother. Eventually, his mother abandoned him when he was 18 months old. Nelson was identified as "a youngster at risk by the end of the fourth grade." He was an academic underachiever in school, and complaints were made as to his classroom disruption and poor motivation.
Two psychologists interviewed and tested Nelson in November 1994. The government's expert was Dr. Naftali Berrill, and the defendant's expert was Dr. Ife Landsmark. Both found that Nelson had a low average to average I.Q., though Landsmark said that on a language-free exam his score was in a high-average range. The doctors agreed that his school behavior demonstrated that he suffered from a "conduct disorder
", but not from any significant psychopathology
.
rioted. Shortly after the riot began, a group of 12–20 young Black men shouting "Kill the Jew", surrounded Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old Australia
n University of Melbourne
graduate student who was in the United States conducting doctoral research. Nelson stabbed Rosenbaum in the back and was apprehended by police a short time later. Before being taken to hospital, Rosenbaum identified Nelson as the person who had stabbed him.
Rosenbaum died from internal bleeding at Kings County Hospital. His medical treatment at the hospital was the subject of later litigation: doctors failed to notice one of Rosenbaum's four stab wounds for almost an hour.
Police testified that Nelson had confessed to murdering Rosenbaum to police officers. Prosecutors claimed Nelson had been carrying a blood-stained knife inscribed with the word "KilleR" at the time he was arrested but Nelson's defense denied the knife was his and suggested police officers it had been found elsewhere. No evidence of fingerprints on the knife was presented. Despite media reports that the pants Nelson had been wearing at the time of his arrest had been bloody, prosecutors did not present evidence of bloodstains upon Nelson's clothing.
Nelson was acquitted of murder on October 29, 1992. The racial composition of the jury (which was considered relevant in the context of the racially-charged atmosphere) is unclear: some contemporary reports described the jury as having consisted of six black jurors, four Hispanic jurors and two white jurors. Later reports described the jury as having consisted of eight black jurors, two white jurors and two Guyanese Americans of undisclosed race or as being "predominantly black". It was claimed that after conclusion of the trial, some jurors attended a party hosted by Nelson's lawyer which honored Nelson as a "hero."
A retrial was held in 2003. There were two primary issues of contention: whether Nelson's actions had been motivated by prejudice and whether Nelson's actions caused Rosenbaum's death.
In a departure from his position in the 1992 trial, Nelson admitted to having stabbed Rosenbaum and apologised to Rosenbaum's family for his actions. However, he denied his actions had been motivated by prejudice, claiming he had joined the mob because he was intoxicated and "caught up in the excitement". Prosecutors claimed that Nelson had admitted he had attacked Rosenbaum only after hearing someone shout "Let's get the Jew!". Rosenbaum's family claimed videotapes showed that Nelson was not intoxicated and claimed the mob of which Nelson was a member had shouted "There's a Jew, let's get the Jew"
On the issue of whether Nelson caused Rosenbaum's death, medical evidence was presented indicating that Rosenbaum had been stabbed four times, of which two of the wounds were fatal.
On May 14, 2003, the jury found Nelson was found guilty of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights but was not found to have caused Rosenbaum's death. According to Cornell law professor Sherry Colb, the jury's verdict was "logically incoherent." Though Rosenbaum's family had sued the hospital where he died for malpractice, the jury was supposed to have—but did not—ignore this information in determining Nelson's guilt, reasoning that the hospital and Nelson could not both be guilty. Colb writes that "this line of reasoning can most generously be described as misguided and less generously as stupid."
Nelson was subsequently sentenced to the maximum sentence of ten years' imprisonment. He served the full sentence (including time served before his 2003 trial) and was released on June 2, 2004.
In a May 2010 interview with the New York Post
, Nelson indicated that he had stopped drinking; he said he considered stabbing Rosenbaum a "mistake" he made as "a kid".
, with Dinkins becoming "a surrogate for Lemrick Nelson", in part because of Dinkins's support for the verdict, saying "I have no doubt that in this case the criminal-justice system has operated fairly and openly." According to Edward Shapiro, professor of history at Seton Hall University
, "it is possible that David Dinkins would have been re-elected mayor in 1993 had the jury not exonerated Lemrick Nelson on October 29, 1992." Shapiro has called the riot "the most serious anti-Semitic incident in American history".
to live with a half-sister.
He pleaded guilty to both charges in DeKalb County
Superior Court in Decatur, Georgia
in March 1995. Nelson was convicted with regard to both crimes on the basis of his guilty plea. He was sentenced to 90–120 days in a "boot camp" (he ended up serving 120 days), three years' probation, and banishment from the State of Georgia.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
also found that his razor attack: "resulted in Nelson's expulsion from school, during which Nelson physically resisted the police officers who were attempting to arrest him after Nelson refused to leave the school grounds."
In the early hours of June 23, 1995, Nelson and five other men were gathered outside an apartment building on Schenectady Avenue in Crown Heights. Police approached the men after receiving a complaint call and one man was summonsed for possession of marijuana. Nelson was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
On arraignment, police claimed that Nelson had pushed and punched an officer who had asked him for identification and attempted to search him, causing the officer to fall and sprain his wrist. Nelson's attorney claimed that the police officers had harassed and assaulted Nelson by beating him on the head with a flashlight.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, which was deemed a parole violation.
in a possible road rage
incident. He was found outside his car at 168th Street and Riverside Drive
in upper Manhattan after 2:00 a.m., and brought to Harlem Hospital Center
in stable condition.
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
student Yankel Rosenbaum to death during the racial unrest of the 1991 Crown Heights riot
Crown Heights riot
The Crown Heights Riot was a three-day riot in the United States that occurred August 19–21, 1991. It took place in the Crown Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn....
. Though his lawyer did not deny at his trial that Nelson stabbed Rosenbaum, he argued that the killing had nothing to do with Rosenbaum's being Jewish.
Nelson was arrested several times on unrelated charges over the following years. In a third trial for Rosenbaum's murder, Nelson was convicted of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
in the murder, and served a ten-year sentence. Nelson admitted for the first time at his 2003 trial that he had stabbed Rosenbaum.
Early life
Nelson is the son of immigrants to the United States from TrinidadTrinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, Lemrick Nelson Sr. (formerly a baker) and his former wife, Valerie Evans. According to information presented by his lawyers in 1995, Nelson had a troubled childhood. His mother, who reportedly suffered from mental illness, repeatedly tried to abort
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
him before he was born. As an infant, he lived with his mother at a shelter for battered women. Nelson's earliest memories involved a physical altercation between his father and mother. Eventually, his mother abandoned him when he was 18 months old. Nelson was identified as "a youngster at risk by the end of the fourth grade." He was an academic underachiever in school, and complaints were made as to his classroom disruption and poor motivation.
Two psychologists interviewed and tested Nelson in November 1994. The government's expert was Dr. Naftali Berrill, and the defendant's expert was Dr. Ife Landsmark. Both found that Nelson had a low average to average I.Q., though Landsmark said that on a language-free exam his score was in a high-average range. The doctors agreed that his school behavior demonstrated that he suffered from a "conduct disorder
Conduct disorder
Conduct disorder is psychological disorder diagnosed in childhood that presents itself through a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate norms are violated...
", but not from any significant psychopathology
Psychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...
.
Events of August 19, 1991
After seven-year-old African-American Gavin Cato was accidentally struck and killed by an automobile in the motorcade of a prominent Hasidic rabbi on August 19, 1991, some Black residents of Crown HeightsCrown Heights
Crown Heights can refer to:* Crown Heights, Brooklyn* Crown Heights, New York, a hamlet on the west side of the Town of Poughkeepsie* Crown Heights , a 2004 television film...
rioted. Shortly after the riot began, a group of 12–20 young Black men shouting "Kill the Jew", surrounded Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
graduate student who was in the United States conducting doctoral research. Nelson stabbed Rosenbaum in the back and was apprehended by police a short time later. Before being taken to hospital, Rosenbaum identified Nelson as the person who had stabbed him.
Rosenbaum died from internal bleeding at Kings County Hospital. His medical treatment at the hospital was the subject of later litigation: doctors failed to notice one of Rosenbaum's four stab wounds for almost an hour.
Murder trial, 1992
Nelson was tried on charges of murder as a hate crime in a New York state court in 1992. Nelson pled not guilty to the charged and denied stabbing Rosenbaum.Police testified that Nelson had confessed to murdering Rosenbaum to police officers. Prosecutors claimed Nelson had been carrying a blood-stained knife inscribed with the word "KilleR" at the time he was arrested but Nelson's defense denied the knife was his and suggested police officers it had been found elsewhere. No evidence of fingerprints on the knife was presented. Despite media reports that the pants Nelson had been wearing at the time of his arrest had been bloody, prosecutors did not present evidence of bloodstains upon Nelson's clothing.
Nelson was acquitted of murder on October 29, 1992. The racial composition of the jury (which was considered relevant in the context of the racially-charged atmosphere) is unclear: some contemporary reports described the jury as having consisted of six black jurors, four Hispanic jurors and two white jurors. Later reports described the jury as having consisted of eight black jurors, two white jurors and two Guyanese Americans of undisclosed race or as being "predominantly black". It was claimed that after conclusion of the trial, some jurors attended a party hosted by Nelson's lawyer which honored Nelson as a "hero."
Violation of civil rights trials, 1997 and 2003
In 1997, Nelson was convicted in federal court of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights. However, that verdict was vacated on appeal due to unfairness in the jury selection process.A retrial was held in 2003. There were two primary issues of contention: whether Nelson's actions had been motivated by prejudice and whether Nelson's actions caused Rosenbaum's death.
In a departure from his position in the 1992 trial, Nelson admitted to having stabbed Rosenbaum and apologised to Rosenbaum's family for his actions. However, he denied his actions had been motivated by prejudice, claiming he had joined the mob because he was intoxicated and "caught up in the excitement". Prosecutors claimed that Nelson had admitted he had attacked Rosenbaum only after hearing someone shout "Let's get the Jew!". Rosenbaum's family claimed videotapes showed that Nelson was not intoxicated and claimed the mob of which Nelson was a member had shouted "There's a Jew, let's get the Jew"
On the issue of whether Nelson caused Rosenbaum's death, medical evidence was presented indicating that Rosenbaum had been stabbed four times, of which two of the wounds were fatal.
On May 14, 2003, the jury found Nelson was found guilty of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights but was not found to have caused Rosenbaum's death. According to Cornell law professor Sherry Colb, the jury's verdict was "logically incoherent." Though Rosenbaum's family had sued the hospital where he died for malpractice, the jury was supposed to have—but did not—ignore this information in determining Nelson's guilt, reasoning that the hospital and Nelson could not both be guilty. Colb writes that "this line of reasoning can most generously be described as misguided and less generously as stupid."
Nelson was subsequently sentenced to the maximum sentence of ten years' imprisonment. He served the full sentence (including time served before his 2003 trial) and was released on June 2, 2004.
In a May 2010 interview with the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, Nelson indicated that he had stopped drinking; he said he considered stabbing Rosenbaum a "mistake" he made as "a kid".
Political and social reaction
According to New York Magazine, Nelson's initial acquittal fueled anger at Mayor David DinkinsDavid Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins is a former politician from New York City. He was the Mayor of New York City from 1990 through 1993; he was the first and is, to date, the only African American to hold that office.-Early life:...
, with Dinkins becoming "a surrogate for Lemrick Nelson", in part because of Dinkins's support for the verdict, saying "I have no doubt that in this case the criminal-justice system has operated fairly and openly." According to Edward Shapiro, professor of history at Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
, "it is possible that David Dinkins would have been re-elected mayor in 1993 had the jury not exonerated Lemrick Nelson on October 29, 1992." Shapiro has called the riot "the most serious anti-Semitic incident in American history".
Events not directly related to Rosenbaum killing
After being acquitted of Rosenbaum's murder in 1992, Nelson moved to a suburb of Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
to live with a half-sister.
Aggravated assault and weapon charges (1994)
Nelson was charged with aggravated assault for slashing a teenage high school classmate, Erik Heard, in the shoulder in January 1994 because Heard had told school officials that Nelson had stolen money from another classmate. He was charged separately with carrying a concealed weapon (a scalpel) at the time of his March 5, 1994, arrest.He pleaded guilty to both charges in DeKalb County
DeKalb County
-Counties in the United States of America:* DeKalb County, Alabama* DeKalb County, Georgia* DeKalb County, Illinois* DeKalb County, Indiana* DeKalb County, Missouri* DeKalb County, Tennessee-Other:...
Superior Court in Decatur, Georgia
Decatur, Georgia
Decatur is a city in, and county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. With a population of 19,335 in the 2010 census, the city is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple zip codes in unincorporated DeKalb County bear the Decatur name...
in March 1995. Nelson was convicted with regard to both crimes on the basis of his guilty plea. He was sentenced to 90–120 days in a "boot camp" (he ended up serving 120 days), three years' probation, and banishment from the State of Georgia.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
also found that his razor attack: "resulted in Nelson's expulsion from school, during which Nelson physically resisted the police officers who were attempting to arrest him after Nelson refused to leave the school grounds."
Disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and harassment charges (1995)
After spending approximately two years in Georgia, Nelson returned to the New York area in 1994. He lived with his mother in New Jersey, and his father in Crown Heights.In the early hours of June 23, 1995, Nelson and five other men were gathered outside an apartment building on Schenectady Avenue in Crown Heights. Police approached the men after receiving a complaint call and one man was summonsed for possession of marijuana. Nelson was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
On arraignment, police claimed that Nelson had pushed and punched an officer who had asked him for identification and attempted to search him, causing the officer to fall and sprain his wrist. Nelson's attorney claimed that the police officers had harassed and assaulted Nelson by beating him on the head with a flashlight.
A warrant was issued for his arrest, which was deemed a parole violation.
Criminal trespass arrest (1996)
Nelson was charged with criminal trespass on February 8, 1996. Police claimed that, having left a court hearing 90 minutes previously, Nelson was arrested after refusing to leave the lobby of an apartment building in which he did not live and that he was carrying a box cutter at the time.Attack with icepick (2010)
On September 12, 2010, Nelson was stabbed in the head with an icepickIcepick
An ice pick is a tool used to break up, pick at, or chip at ice. It resembles a scratch awl, but is designed for picking at ice rather than wood...
in a possible road rage
Road rage
Road rage is an aggressive or angry behavior by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behavior might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions...
incident. He was found outside his car at 168th Street and Riverside Drive
Riverside Drive (Manhattan)
Riverside Drive is a scenic north-south thoroughfare in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The boulevard runs on the west side of Manhattan, generally parallel to the Hudson River from 72nd Street to near the George Washington Bridge at 181st Street...
in upper Manhattan after 2:00 a.m., and brought to Harlem Hospital Center
Harlem Hospital Center
Harlem Hospital Center is a 272-bed public, municipally owned teaching hospital in New York City founded in 1887. It is located at 506 Lenox Avenue at 135th Street in the Harlem community of Manhattan.-Overview:...
in stable condition.