8-year-old Leiby Kletzky murder

The problem is that the evidence does not help us at all determine what the level of premeditation was....and this will remain even if they end up proving that the boy was tied up unless they can prove that he was tied up while the perp was at work.

premeditation n. planning, plotting or deliberating before doing something. Premeditation is an element in first degree murder and shows intent to commit that crime.
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/premeditation

I'm not sure what you mean by "level of premeditation".

Premeditation means there was deliberate thought given to the act beforehand--it was not spontaneous or impulsive.

With planning or deliberation. The amount of time needed for premeditation regarding an act depends on the person and the circumstances. It must be long enough, after forming the intent to act, for the person to have been fully conscious of the intent and to have considered the act.

A design formed to commit a crime or to do some other thing before it is done.

If this perp got pushed over the edge into evil by our police tactics then I want to know this, and I want to try to come up with better responses to lost kids and possible child abusers and potential child killers.

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced this afternoon that a grand jury has indicted Levi Aron on murder charges, hours after the city medical examiner ruled the death of eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky a homicide.

Aron is facing a total of eights counts -- two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree kidnapping and one count of second-degree kidnapping. He faces the maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.

Early on July 13, Leiby's dismembered body was found in pieces in the refrigerator of Brooklyn resident Levi Aron, 35, and in a dumpster more than two miles from the suspect's apartment.

The medical examiner has ruled that Leiby died in the early morning of July 13 from an overdose of muscle relaxant, antipsychotics, pain medication and acetaminophen, and was then smothered by a towel...

"One of the counts in this indictment is murder in the first degree. We charge that the child was kept for more than 12 hours, that it was an intent to kill, and that's based on ingestion of the medication," said Hynes.
http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/top_stories/143295/leiby-kletzky-s-accused-killer-indicted-on-felony-murder-charges

I don't know that the police were doing anything that should have pushed Levi Aron "over the edge into evil". There was a reward for info on the child that started at $5000 and grew to $125,000 from private donors. After seeing all those fliers, had Levi Aron just brought the child back home unharmed, and explained he was trying to help a lost child, he would have been regarded as a hero. The community would likely not have been suspicious of another Orthodox Jew, and the security video had shown Leiby going willingly with the man and willingly getting into his car. There would have been enormous relief that the child was safe and back home, and there might have been no charges lodged against Aron. He had no criminal record, he had no history as a child molestor, and had he just returned the child, unharmed and unmolested, they wouldn't have had much, if anything, to charge him with, if they would have charged him at all.

Is it your general sense of the situation
that Mr. Aron saw it that way ?

Is it your general sense of the situation
that Mr. Aron saw it that way ?

I don't really know how Aron saw the situation--or even why he took the boy and kept him in his attic apartment.

If we can believe what Aron told the police,
and I'm not sure we can, when he went outside on Tuesday morning,
to go to work, and saw all the fliers about the missing boy, he panicked--so,

after he got home from work, he murdered the child.
But, why was he still keeping the child in his apartment Tuesday morning, and why did he go to work and leave the child there?

Even after he saw the fliers, he had the options of just taking the child back to his parents, or simply driving him somewhere
and leaving him on the street.

He chose the option of killing the child and disposing of the dismembered body--apparently in an attempt to protect himself,
at the expense of the child's life.

Whatever psychiatric and intellectual problems this man may have,
that may have affected his judgment regarding options, he was able
to formulate a pre-meditated plan of action that he knew would result
in the death of the child, and he was able to carry out his plan and
dispose of the body--and he knew what he was doing was wrong
(he acknowledged that to the police).

Blaming the senseless brutal murder of an innocent child on the fact that the police and volunteers were combing the neighborhood
looking for the child, and posting fliers everywhere, and that apparently "panicked" Aron, really makes little sense.

He is responsible for what he did--regardless of why he did it.

I don't know that in the future, when a child is missing, that fliers should not be posted,
or that people shouldn't be out searching, just because of this case.

I don't have a better idea. I have no suggestions,
except my permanent suggestion that every person
who might become a victim in the future shoud arm himself defensively.
That is what I did, when I was his age. I think that is the best we can do.

And to that end, many parents are imploring Mayor Bloomberg to lift the public school ban on cell phone usage, arguing they are the best way to keep track of children. Despite the Mayor fighting with parents on the issue and vetoing lifting the ban in the past, he sounded more open to the idea yesterday on his weekly radio program: "If you want to have something that a parent can know where their child is - cell phones. A lot of the smartphones have that technology."

However, despite all that, Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said the mayor won't reverse the rule despite parents' concerns. "Mobile devices are major distractions that prevent all the other students in the classroom from learning," Loeser said.
http://gothamist.com/2011/07/16/lawmakers_push_for_leibys_initiativ.php

Mayor Bloomberg insists on school cell phone bans while parents demand ban lift for communication
BY Rachel Monahan AND Ben Chapman
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Saturday, July 16th 2011,

Parents are calling on Mayor Bloomberg to lift a ban on cell phones in city schools after he said Friday that mobile devices are the best tool for keeping tabs on kids.

On his weekly radio show, Bloomberg said, "If you want to have something that a parent can know where their child is - cell phones. A lot of the smartphones have that technology."

The mayor may believe cell phones increase safety, but students are forbidden from carrying them into public schools. The Department of Education has enforced the ban since 2006.

In the wake of the killing of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, parents want the DOE to lift the ban.

"The mayor has no authority to ban cell phones - it's a safety issue," said Mona Davids, president of the New York City Parents Union.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said the mayor won't reverse the rule despite parents' concerns.

"Mobile devices are major distractions that prevent all the other students in the classroom from learning," Loeser said.

In 2006, the City Council voted to lift the ban, but Bloomberg vetoed the bill and subsequently defeated an override of his veto in court.

The teachers union has also opposed the ban, and in 2006 civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel unsuccessfully sued the city to reverse the rule.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/07/16/2011-07-16_mayor_bloomberg_insists_on_school_cell_phone_bans_while_parents_demand_ban_lift_.html

One of Levy Aron’s Attorneys Quits, Says Case is Too Horrific
July 21, 2011

New York – As police prepared to remove more evidence from Levy Aron’s attic apartment, his legal team suffered a body-blow today.

Defense co-counsel Gerard Marrone abruptly resigned from the case, telling Eyewitness News that he simply could not in good conscience continue to represent Aron, who is accused of abducting and murdering an 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky in Brooklyn.

“The allegations were too horrific, and it’s not something I wanted to be involved in,” he told Eyewitness News. “I have three boys. One of my sons is seven. I looked at my own children and there are no words. You see the victim and you feel so sad.”

Marrone admitted there was a time earlier this week when he cried over the death of Leiby Kletzky.

Marrone and his co-counsel Pierre Bazile suggested last week that Aron was schizophrenic and said they were considering an insanity defense.

Bazile sought to downplay that speculation this afternoon

“Reports in the press that a so-called ‘insanity defense’ is planned are premature,” he said in a statement. “Please refrain from publishing this erroneous information.”

People in the community we spoke with insisted that an insanity plea would be an injustice.

Mourners gathered in Borough Park on Wednesday night, crying and singing at a memorial service.
http://vidyid.com/one-of-levy-arons-attorneys-quits-says-case-is-too-horrific.html

Better to be a decent person than a good lawyer, I'd say.

I bet it's hard to be a decent person and a good defense lawyer at the same time a lot of times.
This is exactly why I decided not to go to law school - I did actually think about it for a while.
I couldn't see myself as a prosecutor, but I also couldn't see myself willing to defend people I thought were guilty.
I thought about doing child advocacy law, and I knew I'd get disgusted and discouraged with the system that so many times lets the child down - I'd had to watch it when I did volunteer guardian ad litum work for a while.

God bless this man. If I were his wife or children I'd be proud to call him dad or husband.
As opposed to Casey Anthony's defense team who managed to get a child killer off and get paid for it.
What a disgusting way to make a buck- on the grave of a little child.

A decent person, but not a good defense lawyer.

A decent person, but not a good defense lawyer.