Levi Aron pleads guilty in Leiby Kletzky slaying

Former hardware store clerk Levi Aron admitted Thursday to abducting and dismembering 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky in Brooklyn last year in a disjointed guilty plea punctuated by whispered, monosyllabic answers and frequent prompting from his lawyers.

The plea and an expected prison sentence of 40 years to life climaxed a case that riveted the city in July 2011 when the Orthodox Jewish boy's disappearance while walking home from day camp triggered a frantic block-by-block search in Borough Park. It was praised in a statement from Leiby's parents, who did not attend.

"Today my family has finally received some partial closure on one aspect of this nightmare," said Nachman Kletzky, whose wife is expecting another child. "A day doesn't pass without our thinking of Leiby, but today we close the door on this one aspect of our tragedy and seek to remember only the gifts that God has bestowed."

Aron, 36, appeared in Supreme Court in Brooklyn in a bright orange prison jumpsuit, wearing a black yarmulke, hands cuffed behind his back. Judge Neil Firetog said psychiatrists found him competent, but his defense team, which had explored a possible insanity defense, admitted that his blank, unresponsive demeanor appeared bizarre.

They said he did not meet the legal definition of insanity or incompetence, but his "flat affect," reticence and need for prompting were the result of medications and a mental condition that required treatment.

"His mental state isn't the same as yours or mine," defense lawyer Pierre Bazile said.

Instead of the narrative of the crime that defendants typically recite, Aron was asked questions from a "script" the lawyers said they provided for the judge. With a lawyer whispering in his ear during frequent pauses and one lengthy consultation, he mumbled answers -- usually "yes" -- which the lawyer amplified for the judge.

Confirming previously reported details, Aron acknowledged that he picked up Leiby in Borough Park, drove him to a wedding in upstate Monsey, brought him back to his apartment and then realized the next day a community search was on. "I panicked," he said.

He admitted he drugged the boy with prescription medications, and got a towel. Asked what he did with the towel, he said, "Smother." Asked how he got rid of the body, he said, "In a suitcase." He admitted using a kitchen knife to cut Leiby's body up, and was asked what he did with the suitcase.

"Dumpster," he said.

Aron offered no motive and never betrayed any emotion about any of the events, but lawyer Jennifer McCann said his odd behavior partly reflected his feelings. "He is remorseful in his own way," she said. "He shows his remorse in his reticence."

Aron's agreed-upon sentencing calls for him to serve 25 years to life for second-degree murder, then 15 to life for kidnapping. He will be eligible for parole after 40 years. Firetog set sentencing for Aug. 29.Leiby's father praised prosecutors for not forcing family members to "relive the terror" at a trial, and said they were at peace.

"We want to stress this one point because it is so vital that everyone understands," he said. "God did not abandon our son nor our family for even one second. He was with Leiby. He is with us. This is what we believe with all our hearts."

-- With AP