https://lnnnews.com/critical-hearing-in-rabbi-eisemanns-case-on-tuesday/The critical hearing in the case of Rabbi Osher Eisemann has concluded this morning. The appellate judges asked probing questions of the prosecutors, and seemed skeptical of their basis for appeal.
Although the hearing went positively, the conclusion is far from granted, and the tzibbur must not let up on tefillos, even for a moment. “It was clear that the tefillos Yisroel were there in the courtroom, giving siyata d’shmaya to the defense team,” a person present told LNN. “The decision of the judges cannot be predicted, and the tefillos remain desperately needed.”
The hearing lasted less than an hour, commencing at 9:35 and wrapping up by 10:20. The three judges asked difficult questions to the prosecution, including the pointed query- “If the trial would be held today, would you turn over the piece of evidence you had left out?”
Prosecutors told the appeals court that the decision by Judge Joseph Paone to invalidate the two convictions based on new evidence, should be overturned. Their argument was that the Judge Paone had erred, caused in part by the fact that he was not the trial judge, and that he was therefore not fully familiar with the facts of the case when he tossed the verdicts.
Defense attorney Lee Vartan argued that Paone had spent months studying the case and its testimony -while the appeals court had allotted less than an hour. Certainly, Paone was in a better position to make the decision that the appellate judges.
Vartan also pointed out that Paone had been in the judge’s chair, instead of trial judge Benjamin Bucca- only because the prosecution had complained. It was the prosecutors who appealed Bucca’s sentence, and demanded that Bucca recuse himself when the case was remanded for reconsideration.
The three appellate judges did not ask many questions of the defense.
The presiding judge, Thomas Sumners, said a decision would be delivered within 30 days. It is unknown what that decision will be, and the situation remains precarious at best. The only certainty is that all outcomes are in the hands of Shamayim, and the only effective hishtadlus is the tefillos of the tzibbur.
Please continue davening for Osher ben Chana Frumit.
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