Joel Steinberg
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Joel Steinberg (born May 25, 1941), a former New York criminal defense attorney, attracted international media attention when he was accused of murder and convicted of manslaughter in the November 2, 1987, death of a six-year-old girl, Elizabeth ("Lisa"), whom he had allegedly adopted under false pretenses. Steinberg had reportedly been hired to locate a suitable adoptive family for Lisa, but instead took the child and raised her himself despite never having filed formal adoption papers.
Steinberg was specifically accused of hitting Lisa on the head and then not seeking medical attention for the child, supposedly because he was under the influence of cocaine; she died in the squalid apartment in New York's Greenwich Village that Steinberg shared with Lisa, Mitchell (a younger child also adopted by Steinberg, 18 months old at the time of Lisa's death), and Steinberg's partner Hedda Nussbaum. Both the boy and Nussbaum showed signs of physical abuse, and Nussbaum's battered, unkempt appearance did much to fuel the media frenzy that accompanied the story of Lisa's death. At Steinberg's trial, it was suggested that Nussbaum's extensive injuries, which included severe damage to the face and permanent spinal damage, resulted from a consensual sadomasochistic relationship between the two. In exchange for her testimony against Steinberg, Nussbaum was granted immunity from prosecution and was never charged with any crime in the case.
Unable to convict Steinberg on the most serious charge of second-degree murder (in New York State at that time, first degree murder applied only to those who killed police officers or had committed murder while already serving a sentence for a previous murder), the jury instead convicted him of the second most serious charge, first-degree manslaughter. The judge then sentenced him to the maximum penalty then available for that charge — 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.
On two occasions, Steinberg was denied discretionary parole, mainly because he never expressed remorse for the killing. However, on June 30, 2004, he was paroled under the state's "good time" law, which mandates release of inmates who exhibit good behavior while incarcerated after having served as little as two-thirds of the maximum possible sentence (New York State has since increased this ratio to six-sevenths of the maximum term for persons convicted of violent felonies). Ironically, in spite of his good behavior, Steinberg had spent most of his imprisonment at New York State's "Supermax" prison, the Southport Correctional Facility, presumably to prevent him from being attacked by other inmates.
After his release, Steinberg moved to West 123rd Street in Harlem, where he now works in construction. He continues to maintain his innocence.[1]
Meanwhile, the other child in the case ended up being adopted by his natural mother, Nicole Smigiel, who then legally changed the boy's first name to Travis.
The case was adapted with modifications as a Law & Order episode, "Indifference," which ended with a long disclaimer that was read aloud pointing out the actual conclusion of the real case. Fourteen years later, in an episode entitled "Fixed,", the program brought back the character inspired by Steinberg, Jacob Lowenstein, who was killed after being released on parole. The episode was inspired by Steinberg's actual release.
On January 16, 2007, New York's intermediate appellate court upheld a $15 million dollar award against Steinberg to Michele Launders, Lisa's birth mother. In its opinion,[2] the court rejected the position that Steinberg, acting as his own attorney, put forth: that "at most eight hours of pain and suffering" (the court's emphasis) did not justify the imposition of punitive damages.[2].
[edit] References
- ^ "The monster now," The New York Daily News, July 10, 2006
- ^ Launders v. Steinberg, 2007 NY Slip Op 00246 (Jan. 16, 2007 N.Y. App. Div). [1]
