'Hands-tied' Judge Fumes as She Nixes 'Theft'

By Alex Ginsberg
New York Post
July 16, 2007

A Brooklyn judge reluctantly tossed out grand-larceny charges against a Borough Park couple - even though she said in her decision that they had, in fact, stolen a share of a $3 million house from their elderly neighbors.

Slamming a New York state criminal statute that she said tied her hands, Justice Jill Konviser wrote in her decision last week, "It defies logic that the defendants, whose conduct was at best without conscience, are able to escape criminal liability based on arcane, hyper-technical principles of property law and outdated notions of criminal justice."

In dismissing the case against Mendel and Chaya Rosenfeld, she cited the state's grand-larceny statute, which says co-owners can't "steal" shared property from each other.

Their lawyer, Harold Levy, said, "The judge made the right decision."

The alleged victims, Harry Langer, 82, and his wife, Hanna, 76, declined comment. The judge's decision leaves intact a civil lawsuit the Langers have filed against the Rosenfelds.

Harry Langer, a concentration-camp survivor, and his wife, a refugee from Nazi Germany, bought their one-third share in 1987.

Last year, Harry Langer consulted an estate lawyer. The lawyer found that in May 1999, the Rosenfelds had transferred the Langers' deed to themselves, forging the older couple's signatures, according to court papers.

Prosecutors said the Rosenfelds promptly took out a $300,000 mortgage on the property, then deeded it to relatives.