Convictions for rabbis for forced divorces upheld by court
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A federal appeals court has upheld the convictions of three Orthodox rabbis on charges they played roles in a ring that used brutal tactics to force unwilling Jewish men to divorce their wives.
A three-judge panel from the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia affirmed the convictions in a ruling issued Friday.
Rabbis Mendel Epstein, Jay Goldstein and Binyamin Stimler were convicted in 2015 on charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. They appealed their convictions in January, arguing that there had been judicial errors during the trial.
Epstein, the accused ringleader, was sentenced to 10 years. Goldstein got an eight-year term, while Stimler received a three-year sentence.
The attacks were carried out from 2009 to 2013 in New Jersey, New York City and other locations.
