BALTIMORE — One brother was convicted and the other was exonerated Thursday in the 2010 beating of a black teenager they encountered while patroling as watch volunteers in their Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Judge Pamela White ruled from the bench against Eliyahu and Avi Werdesheim, 24 and 22, respectively. They opted for a bench trial after withdrawing a motion to move their trial because of publicity comparing their case to the fatal shooting of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
Both were charged with false imprisonment, second-degree assault and carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure. The judge found Eliyahu not guilty of the weapon charge and cleared Avi on all three.
They had no visible reaction when the verdict was read, though Eliyahu’s wife ran from the courtroom in tears.
Prosecutors said the brothers attacked the teen, hitting him with a radio and holding him on the ground. But Eliyahu testified that he acted in self-defense when the teen attacked him with a nail-studded plank and said his brother wasn’t involved in the fight. The judge rejected Eliyahu’s claim of self-defense.
Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Wiggins told the judge that the then-15-year-old boy lived in the neighborhood with his grandmother. He was walking to the bus stop in 2010 to meet his mother for a doctor’s appointment when he noticed two men in a car watching him.
When one of the men told the teen that he didn’t belong in the neighborhood, he felt scared and armed himself with a board. The car left, but when it came back, the teen threw down the stick as the men got out and confronted him, Wiggins said.
The prosecutor said Eliyahu grabbed him and Avi hit him in the head, creating a wound that required two staples. After a third person arrived on the scene, stepping on the teen’s hand when he reached for the phone in his pocket, the Werdesheims left.
Wiggins struggled to get the now 16-year-old teen to speak on the witness stand about the incident. The emotional teen’s words were inaudible, and he frequently put his head down in his lap. Finally, he stood, declaring that he shouldn’t have called police and he wouldn’t testify anymore. He was excused and his testimony stricken from the record, but his 911 call recording was allowed.
The trial drew spectators from the Jewish and black community. Several speakers at a recent rally noted similarities with the Trayvon Martin case: Both involved black teens who were approached by neighborhood watch volunteers who felt they looked suspicious or didn’t belong in the neighborhood.
