Photo: Bebeto Matthews/AP/Corbis
The punishment of Nechemya Weberman, the Hasidic counselor convicted of the prolonged sexual abuse of a young girl in Brooklyn, was reduced by more than half, from 103 years to 50, because of a legal technicality. The judge, the New York Times reports, likely knew the law but wanted to make a point: “The end result will remain the same, life in prison,” said a court spokesperson. Weberman would be eligible for parole for the first time in 2055, at the age of 97.
