Levi Aron to plead insanity in slay of Brooklyn boy Leiby Kletzky

Levi Aron, charged with the gruesome slaying of a Brooklyn boy, was coerced into confessing and will use an insanity defense, his attorney said Monday.

"It's our contention that police told Levi Aron what to say," said Howard Greenberg, a veteran criminal defense attorney, after a brief hearing in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn Monday.

Aron, 35, is charged with kidnapping, suffocating and dismembering 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky in July. According to police, Aron picked up Kletzky after the boy got lost walking home from day camp in Borough Park on July 11.

Police say Aron made incriminating statements, and authorities found the child’s feet in Aron’s freezer and the rest of the remains dumped nearby.

Greenberg argues that police "told him what to say, and consequentially, it's not his statement."

"You could get this guy to admit he shot Kennedy if you spent a little bit of time with him," Greenberg said. "The statements will come back to bite the prosecution in the tuchus.

During the hearing, a judge also denied requests to move the trial out of Brooklyn, and to have assistant DA Julie Rendelman recuse herself. That’s because Rendelman appeared in taped interviews with Aron after his arrest, so she could potentially be called to the stand.

The parties are due back in court on December 21 for a status conference.

(with Reuters)