Levi Aron Sentenced To 40 Years For Murder of 8 Year Old Boy

A 37-year-old man from Brooklyn was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for kidnapping, murdering, and dismembering an 8-year-old boy.

Newser reports that Levi Aron had previously pled guilty to the murder of Leiby Kletzky. Kletzky was kidnapped and killed on July 11th, 20011, after he had gotten lost on his way home from his religious day camp.

According to New York Post, Aron abducted Kletzky at 18th Avenue and Dahill Road, in Brooklyn. He then took the child to his apartment at 466 East 2nd Street, where he killed him, hacked his body into several parts, and kept his feet in the freezer.

Aron pleaded guilty in order to avoid a trial and the possibility of a life sentence without parole. During his sentencing hearing, Aron wore a black yarmulka, bushy beard and orange prison jumpsuit. He kept his head down and eyes closed for most of the hearing.

Aron’s attorney explained that Aron suffered a head injury when he was a child that went untreated.

“As a child and a young man, he should have been treated for his mental illness,” Aron’s attorney Howard Greenberg said. Outside court, his attorneys said Aron is sorry but a public apology would seem false.

“He’s sorry and he wished he hadn’t done it,” attorney Pierre Bazile said.

Kletzky’s parents did not attend the hearing, however, a statement from Kletzky’s father was read by the prosecutor. The statement said, “God did not abandon our son, nor our family, not for one second.”

“There is no way one can comprehend or understand the pain of losing a child,” he wrote. “Esther and I faced this unspeakable tragedy last year when our little boy Leiby was ruthlessly taken from us. … 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.”

As it stands now, Aron will not be eligible for parole until he is 77.