ROCKLAND (VINnews) — Rabbi Nathaniel Sommer and his son Aaron will avoid jail time, after a judge upheld a plea bargain agreement, in the case of the Evergreen Court Home fire in Monsey.
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Judge Kevin Russo stuck with his prior commitment and the two men were sentenced to probation, despite hearing emotional pleas for prison time from the victims’ families.
Russo said probation was appropriate, because the two had no criminal history and had a reputation for charitable work and helping others.
Judge Russo said the rabbis admitted they acted recklessly and the court system doesn’t respond to attempts at vengeance and intimidation, referring to multiple protests and activities outside of the court.
“I doubt I will ever see you again in my courtroom,” Russo added.
Russo noted the emotional response from the families of the two men who died, Jared Lloyd, 35, and Oliver Hueston, 79. He also said firefighter Lt. Lloyd was a “true hero” and adult-home resident Oliver Hueston was “an excellent family man.”
A plea deal was negotiated in June, but Wednesday was the formal sentencing for 71-year-old R’ Nathaniel Sommer and his 29-year-old son R’ Aaron, after pleading guilty for the March 2021 fire.
The defendants pleaded guilty to causing the fire in March 2021, at the dilapidated Evergreen Court Home for Adults, as a result of their Kashering for Pesach. The fire ignited the massive building, hours after they had kashered the kitchen
Reb Nathaniel used a 20-pound propane-injected industrial blowtorch and Reb Aaron dragged buckets of burning coal. The heat and flames simmered and climbed through the greasy ovens and into the walls.
The Sommers’ attorney, Jacob Laufer, called Nathaniel a respected rabbi who has been an EMT for 43 years, and a “spiritual and relic leader.”
“He’s saved lives,” Laufer said. He said Aaron is involved in charitable work, including working with children in Ukraine. He said that when the Sommers left the facility, there was no fire.
Lawyers said they’ve submitted around 80 to 90 letters on behalf of the Somers’.
One letter sent to Russo was signed by 27 elected officials and rabbis from the Orthodox Jewish community, expressing concerns about an “antisemitic campaign that targets two defendants in your court.”
Rockland DA Thomas Walsh released a video statement explaining his agreeing to the plea deal, part of which described the unprecedented nature of the case. “The reckless conduct that both defendants engaged in and ultimately admitted to, has no model, no previous case law, no true analogy; it is precedent-setting. No one has been convicted, let alone arrested and prosecuted, for utilizing a torch and hot coals for a ritual religious cleaning in the manner the defendants chose that evening.”
Sabrail Davenport, Lloyd’s mother, emotionally pleaded with the judge to reverse his decision.
She cried and raised her voice while asking Russo where the justice for her family was. She said she wanted jail time for the men who caused Lloyd’s death. She played a tape of Lloyd calling Mayday before he burned to death, the last words she heard her son speak.
Davenport said she sees Lloyd’s death as a life sentence for her and her family, emphasizing, “My grandsons will grow up without their dad and what will hurt them more is knowing that justice was not served.”
However it appears that the judge and the DA both concluded that the intense pain and trauma of the victims’ families still does not justify holding people accountable, if they are innocent.
the victim’s mother seems to be confusing “justice” with “vengeance”.
People who negligently cause fires where firefighters perish are generally not imprisoned. This was an accident and no criminal intent was involved. People did in fires caused by discarded lit cigarettes. I dont think people typically get prosecuted in those cases.
Rabbi Sommers is a talmid Chochom & tzadik of a Yid who does not deserve jail time for a mistake he made, no matter how tragic the outcome. If you know of a non Jew with the same credentials as Rabbi Sommer’s, I’d say the same thing. Jail is only intended for people who are a danger to society, not for upstanding people who had a lapse of good judgement.
The phrasing of the headline is a little weird. It implies that it would be expected for them to be imprisoned over this tragic accident, when in reality, it’s shocking that anyone even attempted to prosecute them.
If you follow the news, you will see these types of stories all the time. The bottom line is in 2023 there is no such thing as an accident. In every unfortunate accident where someone dies l”a you have those who try to portray otherwise responsible, upstanding citizens as evil, wicked, and depraved who must rot in jail. Somehow this makes the family feel good that justice was somehow done by destroying the guilty person and his family. The judge in this B”H didn’t fall into this trap.
The fault is with food service and housekeeping of the nursing home. When preparing a kitchen for cleanup and kashering a critical cleaning known as haacp has to be done.ther should not have been any hidden caked up flammable grease in hidden areas.condoldnce for the deceased family.
The facts of the case are that they were being blamed for something they were not responsible for. The fact is that the firefighters union was trying to pin blame on them for something that the union was responsible for.
BH the judge saw it.
I don’t know why the old man didn’t get out in time, but Lloyd was a firefighter. Firefighters sometimes die in the line of duty and they know it going in. The only thing I can think of is his mother is either stupid or antisemitic. From what it sounds like to me, Sommers and son were completely not blameworthy, but took the blame lfnim meshuras hadin. After completing the kashering there was no hint of a fire or anything smoldering. Someone else wrote, the management forgot to turn the sprinkler system back on after the rabbis finished and left.
Antisemitism is growing out of control on American social media and judging by the comments here apparently all of you are completely clueless about whats going on. There is absolutely no reason to even write these gross heartless comments against a grieving mother accusing her of antisemitism, who are you to judge? I’ll just say if one of the many antisemites trolling Jewish media was to share with his (growing) followers, this comment section would give them so much ammunition that you cant even imagine. The utter stupidity of people here is infuriating and mindboggling. Dont handwave away what I’m saying, youre playing with fire
The Sommers’ attorney, Jacob Laufer, called Nathaniel a respected rabbi who has been an EMT for 43 years, and a “spiritual and relic leader.”
This obviously should have said: “spiritual and religious leader.”
What does this last paragraph mean:
“However it appears that the judge and the DA both concluded that the intense pain and trauma of the victims’ families still does not justify holding people accountable, if they are innocent.”
How are they “innocent” if the pleaded guilty? And, in fact, they are being held accountable; albeit, commensurate with their level of guilt.
Their level of guilt and their past record (or lack of a record) may have warranted their sentence of probation. However, the fact that they’re not got to jail (B”H) does NOT mean they’re “innocent.”
Boruch Hashem!
Yidden are able to be home and not in jail.
The only people that should be in jail are people who are too dangerous to allow them among the public. Everyone else should be free. Stop the vindictive religious-style ‘justice’ system in this country and use seichel.
Baruch Hashem.
I don’t know about you folks but lately the orthodox Jews and jews in general have been more in the news regarding being prosecuted for practicing their beliefs and ideas or are being prevented from growing their community…
This was a horrible tragedy, but the DA and the judge wisely realized that nothing good, for anyone, could result from jail time.
Instead of cheering or playing the antisemite card, frum Jews should be reaching out to the families who lost their loved ones and trying to console them with sincerity, as we learn from Gittin that we mourn and bury the dead of the goyim as we mourn and bury the dead of Israel.
Outrage Grows as Rabbis Who Admitted to Recklessly Starting Deadly Nursing Home Fire Avoid Jail Time: ‘Horrendous Act’
https://us.yahoo.com/news/outrage-grows-rabbis-admitted-recklessly-190000007.html
Scary how differently this is portrayed on yahoo news and how so many commentors disagree with judge and argue for jail time.
I take back my earlier comment. I was under the impression that they owned the old age home. Now that I know otherwise I apologize for my comment
Nobody uses a blowtorch to kasher ovens. You’ll destroy the thermostat. When the major hashgachos kasher ovens, they clean them very well, burn the racks out on the stovetop and do libun kal on the oven. They needed to have fire extinguishers handy and they needed to make sure everything was immaculately clean from grease before kashering.
Rabbi Sommers has a good reputation. But he should not be permitted to kasher anymore. If I were the judge, I’d couple the probation with a monetary sum to the families affected.
Not sure what they plead guilty to. A judge is not supposed to accept a plea where nothing wrong was done. This was a total accident. No negligent action. The problem was with the stoves, not with what they did.
There is no such thing as an accident – it is always due to someone’s preventable carelessness. That said, although this was a tragedy, I don’t think they should be in jail, but the judge was correct to give probation. However, it should be illegal to act in such a way – for everyone – so, in the future if anyone does this, they should be in jail. Kashering does NOT require such extreme nonsense!
Sick making
It was an accident. The punishment seems appropriate.
In the times of the Bais hamkdash they would be required to run to urey miklat for safety. Otherwise, the family of the victim has a right to vengeance.
In beis din, they would have been chayiv?
Adam muad laolam, eish is tzroros, literally bava kama 101.
Of course we had to play the “Antisemitism” card. Jews were careless, people died. But of course the court system prosecuting (not persecuting) them to determine innocence or guilt is obviously blatant “Antisemitism” & then we wonder why the word has lost all meaning.
If they are so caring like everyone says they are, then why was the nursing home dilapidated? What did they do with all the money that they made ? Nursing homes are very profitable.