United States v. Rita Gluzman: 1997

After her arrest, Rita was charged by federal prosecutors under the Violence Against Women Act (passed in 1994 by Congress following the 0.j. Simpson case). The act contains gender-free language, and Rita was the only woman charged with violation of the new law among the three or four cases brought since it had been passed. The act was used because of the difficulty of bringing charges under New York State rules prohibiting convictions solely based on uncorroborated accomplice testimony. Since her accomplice Zelenin was the only witness against her, the federal charges appeared to be the only way to get a conviction for the murder.

At the trial for the murder, Zelenin admitted he had butchered the body of Yakov Gluzman, but argued that Rita had pressured him into the act. Zelenin agreed to testify in exchange for a lighter sentence, and sought political asylum. Rita Gluzman's defense attorney pointed out that Zelenin, who admitted the grisly crime, and who cursed Rita at the conclusion of his testimony, was an unreliable witness. The defense further pointed out that had Rita wanted to collect life insurance and title to shared property, she would hardly have engaged in a plot to dispose of her husband's body.

However, the prosecution argued that only Rita had a motive for the killing and that Zelenin would gain nothing. Rita had feared her husband would divorce her, move to Israel with his girlfriend, and take the proceeds of their lucrative business.

On April 30, 1997, Judge Barrington Parker convicted Rita of violation of the federal statute against interstate domestic violence and sentenced her to life in prison without parole. The pertinent section of 18 USC 2261 states in language carefully crafted to be gender-free: "A person who travels across a state line … with the intention to injure, harass, or intimidate that person's spouse or intimate partner, and who in the course of or as a result of such travel, intentionally commits a crime of violence and thereby causes bodily injury to such spouse or intimate partner, shall be punished…" Although known as the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), that language of the act very clearly covered the crime charged against Rita Gluzman.