Top lawyer sent to jail for causing car crash
About half a year after road accident which claimed lives of Yevgenia Wexler, her 6-year-old son Arthur, court sentences attorney Dori Klasgsbald to 15 months in prison, 15 months probation. Judges also disqualify Klagsbald's driving license for 10 years, order him to pay fine of NIS 10,000. Victims' family: Justice has been done
Judge Yitzhak Garti ruled that the circumstances of the accident were severe: "Klagsbard's negligence is not the result of lack of orientation, as he saw the cars standing from afar and didn’t take any step to slow down in order to reach them in reasonable speed, which would guarantee that he stops behind them without hitting another vehicles in the row of cars."
Vitali, the uncle of the boy killed in the accident which took place in Tel Aviv's Namir Road, said following the sentence that the justice had been done.
"Today I believe that Israel wants to fight road accidents," he stated.
Dozens of people demonstrated outside the courthouse, carrying pictures of their loved ones who were killed in road accidents.
Klagsbald’s attorney, Dan Scheinman, said, “This is a severe sentence, we will appeal. He received a special sentence because he’s a lawyer. In my opinion, negligence is momentary. He has never denied his responsibility, and for months he was slandered in the media and he never responded, thinking that was appropriate behavior.”
“We have checked all verdicts in recent years, and this sentence is unfortunately significantly deviant from the acceptable standard,” Scheinman continued.
Prosecutor Eli Schwartz rejected the comments and said, “We petitioned for an even more sever sentence. We believe the sentence is appropriate given the circumstances of the case, but leans towards leniency.”
Schwartz refused the defense’s request to delay the execution of the sentence pending an appeal, and said, “For sentences of 15 months jail time we don’t tend to approve, and in this case we tried to act as we would in any case.”
