Relatives of a Chasidic man who was brutally kidnapped and murdered are outraged by the lenient sentence handed down today to one of four conspirators charged in his death.
Kendall Felix was sentenced to two and a third to seven years in the 2014 killing of Menachem Stark. According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Judge Danny Chun said that he awarded the relatively light sentence to Felix because of his age at the time of the crime, his college degree and the fact that he was not the mastermind of the plot to kidnap the 39 year old father of seven.
As previously reported on VIN News, Felix had been facing a maximum sentence of 25 years. Also charged in Stark’s killing were Kendel Felix, Erskin Felix and Irvine Henry, all Brooklyn residents.
Stark’s murder was a kidnapping gone wrong, with conspirators depositing his lifeless body in Great Neck dumpster on a snowy Friday night. Stark’s sister in law Leah Weiss said that Kendall Felix admitted that he set the body on fire in an attempt to dispose of the remains and that the family was very disturbed by court’s determination that burning Stark’s body was considered to be tampering with evidence.
“This is desecration of a body; this is not evidence,” Weiss told VIN News. “Where is the husband, the father, the son, where is he? This is not evidence of a crime, he was a person.”
Weiss said that Stark was an integral part of the family, whose presence is still sorely missed.
“Most people don’t understand that we aren’t the kind of family who only gets together when someone gets married or makes a bar mitzvah,” said Weiss. “We were together all the time and he was always at the center of everything.”
Judge Chun’s sentence opens up a world of hurt for the Stark family all over again, noted Weiss.
“He was the one who came up with the idea to burn the body and the not knowing where he was an extremely painful part of the process and that was his doing,” said Weiss.
Tziri Hershkowitz, another of Stark’s sisters in law, was in the courtroom nearly every day of Felix’s trial. She too felt that Chun’s sentence missed the mark.
“This is unfairly short for such a horrendous and cold blooded crime,” observed Hershkowitz. “He admitted to being solely responsible for burning a man’s body and the family deserved better than this. A human being is not the same as a bag of evidence.”
Stark’s son will be getting married next week and Hershkowitz said that the family has been doing its best to juggle the joy of the upcoming wedding with the emotional difficulties of the trial.
“Sitting there in court every day is traumatic and we have heard a lot more detail about the tragedy than we necessarily needed to hear,” said Hershkowitz. “The images and video are heartbreaking and horrifying but we need to them to know that we are there and that we are a loving family that has been forever changed.”
Felix’s lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, was not immediately available to comment on the matter.
jewish blood is really cheap! this is just the beginning of a shift towards legalizing murdering jews! i’m surprised the goy didn’t walk.
israel looks mighty pretty right about now.
https://hamodia.com/2019/03/15/trial-begins-erskin-felix-accused-murdering-menachem-stark/
There is no double jeopardy in our legal system. Baruch Hashem for that.
The judge should be put out of society. He must be a judge from nobaba. That’s the only think that makes sense. Shame on the judge. And we as Jews must denounce this heinous act. Bring back death penalty.
Correct, similar to the laws in Sodom and Gemorah, the current legal system is quite original in it’s interpretation of what is just and true at times.
You people clearly don’t understand law very well. There are specific sentences assigned to specific crimes. The judge has the job to decide on the jail time based on the crimes which the JURY Convicts the defendant of. And being that you don’t know the details of the case it isn’t your place to say weather or not the judge acted lawfully or justly. And as far as s.m rubashkin goes the judge chose to give the maximum penalty based off of the crimes that he was CONVICTED Of. Which was well within her legal right to do. The law… Read more »
If rubashkin gets life for tax evasion, im sure a killer should get the death penalty. Like if you agree
Disgusting!! And Rubashkin got 27 years, so I guess they value money over life… Interesting… This is insane and an insult to Menachem Stark, his family, and Jews everywhere!
What a nice reassuring thought for all the other would be murderers.
The judge who gave this sentence cares about justice about as much as he cares about the next person who will be affected by this crazy monster. You don’t need to do much research to know that this murderer will not go on to live a respectable life when he’s out in 2 years. I hope Mr Chun is made liable for the next crime this animal commits. Drain the Swamp!
If the perpetrator was wearing a #MAGAHat , it would be a completely different scenario
No one cares anymore about anything but money. Years ago if a yid was killed we attacked the police station on shabbos with 5000 boro Parker’s. It was a different world. Everyone is pathetic. If this had been a black victim then the blacks would remain dead up and the federal government would step in and hold a second trial. We don’t vote. We don’t count. Even the satmar williamsburg people don’t stand up for their own member victims. Unfortunatly there is no idealism left in the masses. Why is Yankel Rosenbaum killer living freely and in new Jersey. Jewish… Read more »
THEY MUST APPEAL THE LENIENT SENTENCE AND SEEK LIFE FOR THESE ANIMALS
Did the others get longer sentences and he a shorter sentence?
This is an insult to the Jewish community and humanity in general.
Are we having a rally to protest this.
And Rubashkin got 27 years….
Prison only makes these murderers worse, death penalty for all of them.
This guy apparantly lived on our block.. dangerous to let him out!