Crown Heights Trials: 1992 & 1997

Nelson's background revealed that he was a special-education student who read at the third-grade level and understood math at the fifth-grade level. He was charged, as an adult, with second-degree murder.

As the trial began, the jury comprised six African Americans, four Hispanics, and two whites. Prosecutor Alan Vinegard called 10 police officers to describe the accident and riots.

The key prosecution witness was officer Mark Hoppe, who said he caught Nelson after seeing him jump a fence near the bleeding Rosenbaum; Hoppe took him back to the victim, who looked up and asked, "Why did you stab me?" Hoppe also said that in Nelson's right front pocket he found a blood-stained knife with the word "killer" painted in red on the handle.

During the cross-examination, defense lawyer Arthur Lewis, Jr., suggested that Hoppe had mishandled evidence by storing the knife and bloody dollar bills from Nelson's pocket in a paper bag he had found "someplace" in the station house.

Two officers testifying about Nelson's oral confession said he told them he had been caught up in the frenzy of the crowd. Others testified that the victim had identified Nelson as his attacker. Three forensic experts described the results of tests indicating that blood on Nelson's knife, his jeans, and the dollar bills matched Rosenbaum's.

Attorney Lewis said the defendant's confession had been coerced and that the evidence was planted by cops eager to make a quick arrest. Observers noted that the African-American defense lawyer seemed to work on the jury's sympathy—putting himself in the role of victim and playing on the vulnerability of the jurors to anti-Semitic appeals—provoking Judge Edward M. Rappoport to berate him for such blatant tactics.

The jury found Nelson not guilty. Interviewed later, jurors said they did not believe police testimony that he had confessed or that he had been read his Miranda rights. They then accepted an invitation to go out to a celebratory dinner with the defendant, with defense lawyer Lewis as host.

In the meantime, Nelson moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to live with friends and go to high school. There he attacked a classmate with a razor blade for telling authorities he had stolen some money. When arrested, he was carrying a hidden scalpel. Charged with aggravated assault and carrying a concealed weapon, he pled guilty and was sentenced to 90 to 120 days in a boot camp program, three years' probation, and expulsion from the state of Georgia.