Crown Heights Trials: 1992 & 1997

After two weeks of testimony from 28 witnesses, the prosecution rested. Defense attorney Christine Yaris, describing her client as a "sacrificial lamb," said the police "took the first kid they found and set him up." She asked Nelson to put on the blood-spattered, baggy jeans that police had testified he had worn during the killing. The astonished courtroom saw them fall to Nelson's knees. Then, showing photos of the jeans Nelson had actually worn that night, she noted that the belt loops were empty. "If those pants are the pants in evidence," she said, "they had no visible means of support." In rebuttal, the prosecution detailed how nine police and civilian witnesses would have had to have plotted to frame the defendant. The jury was excused and Nelson was ordered to put the pants on again. This time, they stayed up without a belt.

Price's attorney Darrell Paster described his client as a scapegoat implicated "to carry away the sins of unknown people the government can't find."

After four days of deliberations, the jury found both defendants guilty of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights. Judge David G. Trager sentenced Nelson to 191/2 years in prison, plus 5 years' probation. Price received 21 years and 10 months imprisonment. Under federal law, neither could expect parole. Lawyers for both defendants said they would appeal.

Following the trial, New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani formally apologized to the residents of Crown Heights and to the Rosenbaum family. The city agreed to a $1.1 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by the Hasidic community for the city's failure to protect its citizens.