NEW YORK (AP) - Prosecutors say they’ll move to drop charges against a Brooklyn man in a controversial extortion case involving a Brooklyn rabbi.
District Attorney Kenneth Thompson tells the Daily News (https://nydn.us/1g5EBhC ) that prosecutors don’t think they could prove the charges against Samuel Kellner at trial.
Kellner’s lawyer says the move is long overdue.
Kellner was charged in 2011 with extorting Baruch Lebovits.
The Brooklyn rabbi was convicted in 2010 of abusing a boy whom Kellner had referred to prosecutors. But Lebovits’ conviction was overturned in 2012. He’s awaiting a new trial.
Lebovitz’s family opposes the plans to dismiss the extortion case.
During the 2013 election, Thompson called the case botched. His predecessor, Charles Hynes, stood behind the prosecution.
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Information from: Daily News, https://www.nydailynews.com
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