A long-standing rivalry between two Orthodox Jewish neighborhood patrols took center stage yesterday in the trial of a half-dozen men accused of assaulting yeshiva students in Crown Heights two years ago.
Six members of the Shomrim patrol are charged with attacking the four students after having been called to break up a melee at the school.
But one of the defense lawyers said in her opening statement that the defendants were charged as a result of efforts by Levi Huebner, a lawyer for a rival patrol called Shmira.
Attorney Joyce David said Huebner called police the day after the violence and offered to translate for the Hebrew-speaking students.
But he neglected to disclose that he represented Shmira, she said, and he later pressured detectives to arrest the Shomrim squad.
The two patrols’ history of bad blood dates back to the late 1990s, when Shmira splintered from the original group.
“[Huebner] orchestrated this case. He played the DA’s office; he played the police,” said David, who represents defendant Chaim Hershkop, 28.
She added that Huebner filed a $140 million lawsuit against Shomrim on behalf of the students.
After yesterday’s session, Huebner said, “I believe that the only place the case should be tried is in the court.”
Prosecutor David Weiss, meanwhile, called Shomrim a “gang” whose intention that night was to attack helpless yeshiva students and “beat them indiscriminately.”
But defense lawyer Tedd Blecher argued that the defendants were “like Boy Scouts” up against a hostile bunch.
“They’re not yeshiva boys; they’re full-grown adults, many of whom are much bigger than the defendants,” said Blecher, who represents Benjamin Lifschitz, 23
The defendants, most of them in their 20s, could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.