https://t.co/WMwMXq1BzA, Gail Beth, beloved daughter, granddaughter and sister, her headstone says. denied 77 N.Y.2d 879, 568 N.Y.S.2d 922, 571 N.E.2d 92; see also People v. Laverpool, 267 A.D.2d 93, 700 N.Y.S.2d 139, lv. However, apparently also on July 8, defendant told the victim's therapist, Dr. Sybil Baran, that he and the victim had argued and that she'd gone off in a huff; 8. O'Malley that they argued on July 6 and continued on the morning of July 7. denied 80 N.Y.2d 905, 588 N.Y.S.2d 831, 602 N.E.2d 239; People v. Shorey, 172 A.D.2d 634, 568 N.Y.S.2d 436, lv. Bierenbaum, an experienced pilot who had been convicted on circumstantial evidence, was serving his 20 years-to-life prison sentence when he made the chilling It is clear to us that a finding other than guilt would not have been reasonable. Robert Bierenbaum was convicted of second-degree murder in 2000 and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Accordingly, there can be no holding that this verdict is against the weight of the evidence. However, on July 10, he called Det. Indeed, it has also been held that such evidence in like contexts is highly probative of the defendant's motive and [i]s either directly related to or inextricably interwoven (People v. Ely, [68 N.Y.2d 520] at 529 [510 N.Y.S.2d 532, 503 N.E.2d 88]) with the issue of his identity as the killer (People v. Linton, 166 A.D.2d 670, 671, 561 N.Y.S.2d 259, lv. Matthew Rowley hoisted the bag into the front passenger seat of the plane, a four-seat Cessna 172, similar to the plane investigators said Bierenbaum rented. In fact, the doorman did not speak to defendant July 7 and could not recall seeing either defendant or the deceased that day. When she came to, he begged her forgiveness and promised it would never happen again. Authorities could not use the actual plane they say Bierenbaum flew because another pilot later crashed the plane, the article said. She was seeking his advice. denied 94 N.Y.2d 920, 708 N.Y.S.2d 359, 729 N.E.2d 1158 [crime against spouse extinguishes statutory privilege]; People v. Johnson, 84 N.Y.2d 956, 620 N.Y.S.2d 822, 644 N.E.2d 1378 [no statutory or common law parent/child privilege for adult child under these circumstances]), the court correctly decided that defendant waived the privilege. Fourth, he urges that the court incorrectly allowed the People to introduce opinion testimony by a medical examiner, and demonstrative and opinion evidence by a police pilot and two other experts, that it is possible for a surgeon/pilot, alone, to dismember a 110-pound body in 10 minutes, load a 36-inch long package containing the body's disarticulated remains onto a small airplane, and, also while alone in the air, throw it into the ocean. She was also determined to make it clear to defendant that she would use a letter, written to her by his psychiatrist warning her of the danger he posed to her, in order to humiliate him with his professional peers should he refuse to meet her divorce settlement demands. He is now eligible for parole and faces a parole hearing in November. Dalsass on Monday, July 8 and again on Sunday, July 14, he never said-indeed on July 8 he denied-that he and his wife argued that morning, even though Dalsass did acknowledge that defendant, on July 14, said the victim was pissed the morning she left. As for defendant's remaining reliability claims, they raise questions quite properly within the jury's province. I told him that any information is useful. at 184). TermsPrivacyDisclaimerCookiesDo Not Sell My Information, Begin typing to search, use arrow keys to navigate, use enter to select, Stay up-to-date with FindLaw's newsletter for legal professionals. His medical license was revoked Doheny v. Lacy, 168 N.Y. 213, 223-224, 61 N.E. First, she would threaten to humiliate him by publishing to his professional colleagues and superiors a warning letter she had received from defendant's treating psychiatrist; and, second, she would threaten to expose an alleged Medicare fraud in which she claimed he and his father were allegedly involved. When he exhibited hesitation in responding to her, she jokingly asked him if he had killed his wife. The detective specifically made it clear to defendant the importance of omitting nothing in describing and detailing for him the last three days his wife and he spent together: I opened up with anything that might be instrumental in locating Gail. 2. The court did, however, permit the prosecution to adduce testimony that the victim had received a letter from one of these psychiatrists warning her of the danger defendant posed to her, although the justice prohibited the People from introducing the letter itself. Defendant gave contradictory accounts about whether and why he sent the living room rug out to be cleaned immediately following the decedent's disappearance, but completely withheld that information from the police; 4. Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a trained pilot serving 20 years to life in prison, admitted to the crime at a parole hearing for the first time since his wife, Gail Katz, 29, In that 1858 case, the Court of Appeals held, without direct proof of the death, or of the violence or other act of the defendant which is alleged to have produced death, a murder conviction may not stand (id. He thus claims that those cases do not apply to permit such evidence under these facts because this case involves evidence of only one prior assault. In fact, several witnesses, including Dr. Baran, described victim's state of mind during the period before July 7 as being happy, jovial and the like. Compounding the significance of that devastating omission-an omission which concealed the very means and opportunity to dispose permanently of his victim's body-is the documentary evidence found in his home several months after July 1985 showing clearly that his written flight log entry for July 7 was changed from July 7 to August 7. On another occasion, while the couple was watching a television program about the Von Bulow murder case, defendant told the victim that the problem with Claus Von Bulow is that he left evidence and [defendant] would not leave evidence. The testimony revealed that the victim perceived this statement as a threat. 79 N.Y.2d 673, 584 N.Y.S.2d 770, 595 N.E.2d 845 [uncharged evidence of prior assaultive acts may be admissible as background to support testimony that otherwise might be unbelievable or suspect]). Surely, one can argue as defendant does that any single aggressive act or threat, or a series of them, can suggest to a jury a general propensity to behave aggressively. Moreover, his behavior with other women so soon after July 7 is inconsistent with behavior one would reasonably anticipate from a husband whose wife had mysteriously disappeared, notwithstanding that their marriage was stormy. Because the letter's separate purpose was to warn, and, further, to insure that its disclosure at trial for that valid purpose did not publish its otherwise confidential contents-and thus breach the court's associated preclusion order-the court appropriately placed significant restrictions on the People's use of the letter. Most important, if there existed any lingering ambiguity about whether defense counsel had or had not registered a cognizable objection on October 11, defense counsel himself resolved it on October 16 when he said no objection at the moment the People actually offered the exhibits. Alayne Katz told ABC News she immediately knew something was very wrong. The former plastic surgeon, who is in prison for the killing, admitted to the parole board in December 2020 that he strangled Katz, 29, before loading her body onto a Cessna 172 and tossing it into the Atlantic Ocean. The remains were buried, the article said. By 1990, Bierenbaum had relocated to Las Vegas and opened a plastic surgery practice there, ABC News reported. This aspect of the evidence, when viewed with all else the People proved, compels inferences that defendant had an informed reason, based on his own direct knowledge, to be completely unconcerned that: a) his paramour might shortly be forced to confront his missing wife in her own bedroom; and b) his early morning trip to the precinct would reunite him with her. DNA tests showed the body was not Katz-Bierenbaum, the missing persons website reported. Watch 20/20 Season 44 Episode 3 Do No Harm Online 20/20 S44 E3 Do No Harm The first wife of a Jekyll and Hyde Manhattan plastic surgeon mysteriously disappears. This is exactly the same man that I knew 35 years ago, she told ABC News. We have examined defendant's remaining contentions and find them unavailing. WebDr Robert Bierenbaum is sentenced in New York City to twenty years to life in prison for murdering his wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, who disappeared 15 years ago; Judge Leslie By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. At his sentencing, Alayne Katz told the court Bierenbaum killed her sister to prevent her from exposing him as a violent and twisted man, according to the Times. Furthermore, were we to reach the merits of the videotape's admissibility, we would reject the defense argument that its contents are based on pure speculation and thus were improperly placed before the jury. But last week, a Manhattan jury found Dr. Bierenbaum guilty of killing his first wife and dumping her body from an airplane. As this Court stated in Farrow v. Allen, 194 A.D.2d 40, 608 N.Y.S.2d 1, once a patient authorizes his or her psychiatrist to release, what might otherwise be, a privileged letter to a third party who is completely unconnected to his or her treatment and who is not subject to any other privilege, its release is sufficient to waive the privilege as to the information contained in the letter itself (id. Stream next day on Hulu. It is this inappropriate and distracting inference which the Molineux ruling and its progeny aim to bar. He is now eligible for parole and faces a parole hearing in November 2021. This entire case leaves no doubt whatever that the contents of the videotape depict a scenario that was anything but speculation. Often, evidence of prior assaults and threats manifests general aggressiveness, i.e., a general propensity to act aggressively against other people. Robert Bierenbaum first made headlines for the murder of his wife Gail Katz. The existence of a physical shock or trauma has often been cited as a key consideration (see People v. Brooks, 71 N.Y.2d 877, 527 N.Y.S.2d 753, 522 N.E.2d 1051; People v. Brown, 70 N.Y.2d at 516-517, 522 N.Y.S.2d 837, 517 N.E.2d 515;6 Wigmore, Evidence 1745[1] [Chadbourn rev. Robert Bierenbaum was sentenced to 20 years to life and is currently incarcerated at New Yorks Attica Correctional Facility. At a parole hearing in December 2020, he confessed to killing his wife and dumping her body from a Before ending that July 8 interview, Det. Thereafter, commencing in September 1985 and continuing for a period just under one year, defendant invited a medical student, Dr. Roberta Karnofsky, who worked under his direct supervision at Coney Island Hospital, to live with him in the marital apartment. Dalsass that he and his wife had argued that Sunday morning. He never told investigators about the flight. All of Bierenbaums appeals over the years were unsuccessful. Thus, under Ruloff v. People, 18 N.Y. 179, those two facts once precluded a murder prosecution in New York. Whether earlier acts of alleged violence or threats are admissible depends on the circumstances surrounding both the past and the currently charged aggressive acts or threats. However, in 1982, in People v. Lipsky, 57 N.Y.2d 560, 457 N.Y.S.2d 451, 443 N.E.2d 925, the Court of Appeals overruled Ruloff. Although her body was never found, Katz-Bierenbaum has a grave at Mount Zion Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens, New York, according to Find a Grave. Her remains have never been found, although a body washed ashore in Staten Island that investigators initially believed to be Katz Bierenbaum. The justice allowed the jury to learn only of its existence and nature, but not of its specific contents beyond its warning to the victim that defendant posed a threat to her. Investigators believe Bierenbaum strangled her in their Upper East Side apartment before disposing of the body, the article said. Inmate Name BIERENBAUM, ROBERT Sex MALE Date of Birth 07/22/1955 Race / Ethnicity WHITE Custody Status IN CUSTODY Housing / Releasing Facility ATTICA Date Received (Original) 12/22/2000 Date Received (Current) 12/22/2000 Admission Type NEW COMMITMENT County of Commitment NEW YORK Crimes of Conviction Crime: The clear and direct language the Lipsky court selected to disavow the 124-year-old Ruloff ruling is significant in light of the Ruloff facts, because those facts are, in several key ways, similar to those at bar. In our role of reviewing the sufficiency of trial evidence as an appellate court in a purely circumstantial evidence case, we must decide whether a guilty verdict is based on legally sufficient evidence by determin [ing] whether any valid line of reasoning and permissible inferences could lead a rational person to the conclusion reached by the fact finder on the basis of the evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the People [citations omitted] (People v. Williams, 84 N.Y.2d 925, 926, 620 N.Y.S.2d 811, 644 N.E.2d 1367). In part, he frames his argument by citing reported domestic violence cases wherein the jury was allowed to learn that the victimized spouses endured more than one attack by the accused pre-dating the violent act charged in the indictment. He also disclosed to his date that in the past he had a bad temper, but that it had gotten much better. Bierenbaum, an experienced pilot who had been convicted on circumstantial evidence, was serving his 20 years-to-life prison sentence when he made the chilling confession during a December 2020 parole board hearing. Further, he told Dalsass, in some detail, that on Saturday afternoon, July 6, while he and Gail shopped at various local stores, they argued about finances and other matters which he refused to disclose. @MKazColdCase from @PIFortheMissing explains the case of Gail Katz-Bierenbaum in part two of investigating and prosecuting homicide cases without the victim's body. Her body was never found and the great weight of the evidence shows that she was anything but desperate or depressed so that one might reasonably fear she was contemplating suicide. Defendant counters this reasoning, contending that the 1983 choking incident and all the other evidence and references to threats and marital strife should have been precluded because they bespeak propensity and because the People improperly used the choking incident to suggest that defendant had a propensity for violence. Defendant asserts that because there is evidence of only one earlier act of violence by him against his wife, this murder case should not be considered as a domestic violence homicide, and therefore there is no justification for the single alleged choking episode to be received in evidence along with various threats and other evidence of discord. Judged by that standard, we find and hold that the circumstantial evidence adduced at this trial decisively extinguishes any doubt that defendant Robert Bierenbaum, and no one else, intentionally killed his wife Gail Katz Bierenbaum, brought her body to Caldwell Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, loaded it onto a small plane, flew it over the Atlantic Ocean, and, there, dumped her remains. The psychiatrist communicated the consented-to warning by sending a letter, sometimes referred to as a Tarasoff letter (see Tarasoff v. Regents of Univ. To reject any notion that the victim intended to use the letter a second time simply because she may have already used it once before would unreasonably ignore her various statements, her reasons for wanting a divorce, and her state of mind as that fateful weekend approached. The episode premieres Friday, October 22, 2021, at 9 p.m. Eastern time. denied 97 N.Y.2d 756, 742 N.Y.S.2d 616, 769 N.E.2d 362 [prior threats of violence and acts admissible]; People v. Lee, 284 A.D.2d 412, 726 N.Y.S.2d 284, lv. Furthermore, he said to at least two people, not including the police, that he had searched for his inexplicably missing wife in Central Park on the afternoon of July 7 and there allegedly found the suntan oil and towel she had taken with her when she left the apartment at 11:00 A.M. Dalsass that he and his wife had no argument on July 7, but he told Det. She called Wiese again the following day to let him know she took his advice and was staying with her grandfather. Later the same day, around 6:30 P.M., defendant arrived alone at his sister's Montclair, New Jersey, home for his nephew's birthday party. A jury convicted Robert Bierenbaum of second-degree murder based on circumstantial evidence that on July 7, 1985 he intentionally killed his wife, Gail Katz In a December parole hearing, however, Bierenbaum, now 66, admitted for the first time that he strangled Gail Katz, 29, in July 1985. Third, he argues that the trial justice should have precluded, and that the prosecutor inappropriately used, evidence that defendant choked his wife rendering her unconscious in the autumn of 1983, including evidence of her statements to her cousin over the phone, which the court admitted as excited utterances.. That the victim had once before confronted him with the same letter and her same threat weeks or months before July 7 does not, as defendant now urges, diminish the potential explosiveness of her intended confrontation on the weekend she died, because the testimony is otherwise clear and certain that she once again intended to tell defendant over that weekend that she was divorcing him. We disagree with defendant and find them fair and legally satisfactory. Crystal Bonvillian, Cox Media Group National Content Desk, Former NY surgeon admits killing wife, throwing body from airplane in 1985. The two-hour special describes Bierenbaum, a multilinguistic surgeon, skier, chef and pilot, as a Jekyl and Hyde figure. Copyright 2023, Thomson Reuters. Therefore, even though the victim's phone conversation with Wiese was erroneously admitted as excited utterances, its core content was nonetheless relevant, admissible, and the jury properly heard about it from other witnesses. NR | 10.22.21 | 01:19:49 | CC more episodes 01:20:43 Katz, 29, of New York, was murdered in July 1985 by her husband, Dr. Robert Bierenbaum. Finally, she observed that defendant was meticulous, even compulsive, about making flight log entries. Sentenced to 20 years to life after his October 2000 conviction, Bierenbaum became eligible for parole in 2020. [S]peaking in very hushed tones and very rapidly and, sounding extremely upset, she told him that she and defendant had a fight the night or day before. The trial record also makes it clear-notwithstanding the victim occasionally vacillated about terminating her marriage-this couple was on the verge of divorce in July 1985. We disagree. Ive waited for that sound a long time. The jury got the case on Monday. In this case his behavior and threats were admitted because they revealed the former three of these five potentially relevant items. Dalsass and later to Det. Defendant correctly argues that the victim's statements during her telephone call to Hillard Wiese do not constitute excited utterances. As the Court of Appeals recently wrote in People v. Vasquez, 88 N.Y.2d 561, 579, 647 N.Y.S.2d 697, 670 N.E.2d 1328: An excited utterance is one made under the immediate and uncontrolled domination of the senses, and during the brief period when consideration of self-interest could not have been brought fully to bear by reasoned reflection (People v. Brown, 70 N.Y.2d [513] at 518, 522 N.Y.S.2d 837, 517 N.E.2d 515). Stay up-to-date with how the law affects your life. They could find no proof, however, that he had harmed his wife. A trial court must not merely count the number of past incidents, but it must engage in a qualitative assessment of the words and deeds which create the history of the relationship between defendant and alleged victim. By 1985, the parties' three-year-old marriage can fittingly be described as an emotional battleground. The victim would complain also that defendant tried to exert excessive control over her, and she expressed fear of him more than once. Significantly, he omitted telling his father that he had flown an airplane for nearly two hours that very afternoon. Offensive Slang A Jewish-American girl or woman regarded as being pampered or overindulged (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 935 [4th ed 2000]). As discussed at greater length elsewhere in this opinion, notwithstanding defendant's contentions to the contrary, this evidence is clearly relevant not only to motive, but to intent and identity. Defendant contends that the court improperly allowed the prosecution to adduce testimony, and otherwise refer to evidence, that defendant was violent, and that he choked his wife to the point of unconsciousness in late 1983. A jury convicted Robert Bierenbaum of second-degree murder based on circumstantial evidence that on July 7, 1985 he intentionally killed his wife, Gail Katz Bierenbaum, in their Manhattan apartment; transported her body to a New Jersey airport the same day; loaded it onto a small private plane; and piloted it over the Atlantic Ocean where he discarded her remains. WebThe written ruling by a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan was consistent with previous rulings by judges who have reviewed the conviction of Dr. Robert Bierenbaum. To the contrary, it was her professional opinion, based on three years of treating the deceased once or twice weekly, that she was not suicidal. The trial testimony and physical exhibits revealed the following: In 1982 defendant and the victim married. After killing Katz, he got rid of her body where no one would find it. There he told his father that he and his wife had an argument earlier that day, that she left for Central Park, and she had not returned by the time he left Manhattan. Dalsass' office arranged by the deceased's sister Alayne Katz, and with her parents and defendant's father also present, Dalsass interviewed defendant again face-to-face. The company is family owned and highly values relationships often going beyond the call of duty to help a customer. As for any suggested theory that someone other than defendant killed her, no proof exists in this record which is even remotely consistent with such speculation, and there is no one other than defendant Bierenbaum who, like he, had the motive or had the exclusive opportunity to kill her at the time and place where the victim was last seen alive; and, surely, there was no one who signaled his obvious guilt by covering and distorting the truth as this defendant repeatedly did. Another woman whom he dated in Las Vegas in 1995 asked him on their first date whether he had ever been married. Encouraging that type of qualitative analysis is the common theme of this State's settled law on this subject (see People v. Pena, 251 A.D.2d 66, 673 N.Y.S.2d 688, affd. Indeed, defendant himself told his father in 1983 that their strife had reached the point of some physical contact, and there is credible testimony that in 1985 defendant was so filled with hostility that he was tempted toward violence against his wife. Like his wife, he was 29 years old when she vanished. People v. Balls, 69 N.Y.2d 641, 642, 511 N.Y.S.2d 586, 503 N.E.2d 1017). He told her of the argument and that the victim had left for Central Park with a blanket for sunbathing. He was convicted in October 2000 of having murdered his estranged wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum 15 years earlier in their Manhattan apartment on July 7, 1985. Early in that period, before they began dating, and therefore significantly before the end of September, he falsely told her the police had searched his apartment and car and found him to be clean. Furthermore, she testified that, during that early period, he expressed no concern about his wife's disappearance. One of the biggest challenges, the former prosecutor said, was to convince a jury that Bierenbaum could fly a plane and push Katzs body from the aircraft at the same time. At a parole hearing in December 2020, he confessed to killing his wife and dumping her body from a plane, according to the New York Daily News. To begin with, Wiese was unable to reliably estimate how long before his cousin called him that the choking incident occurred. About midway through their one-year relationship, defendant gave his approval to have Dr. Karnofsky's girlfriend, Sharon, also move into the apartment temporarily. Dr. Karnofsky also remembered a phone call defendant received one morning at three o'clock, a few months after she moved in. That ruling was correct, first, because defendant waived his CPLR 4504(a) privilege by consenting that the warning be communicated; second, because a warning under these circumstances is an exception to the principle of confidentiality since the psychiatrist is under a duty to warn the intended target of a patient's violence; third, because the nature and existence of the warning letter were relevant to the state of the parties' marriage and defendant's motive to kill his wife in light of her stated intent to use it as leverage in her contemplated divorce action against defendant by confronting him with it and threatening to reveal its contents if he refused to meet her divorce settlement demands; and, finally, because it was relevant to prove, in addition to motive and the state of the parties' marriage, the interrelated issues of his intent to kill her and his identity as her killer. Defendant was pretty surprised and stunned and asked her what she knew. ABC News reports Robert Bierenbaum made the confession during a parole board hearing in December 2020, about 36 years after his wife, Gail Katz, went missing in New York City. Theres no other suspect.. tall, weighing 110 lbs.) Moreover, the testimony of the only defense witness, Joel Davis, suggesting that he saw the deceased on the afternoon of July 7, was extremely weak. Additionally, her key reason for precluding the professionals from giving oral testimony at trial was that one of their purposes for consulting with defendant's closest family members was to gain insights from his family members, insights which might enhance their treatment of defendant. Defendant offered that Gail had, years earlier, attempted suicide. If it appears that the trier of fact has failed to give the evidence the weight it should be accorded, then the appellate court may set aside the verdict (CPL 470. That was the overwhelming opinion of those closest to her, including her gynecologist, her therapist of three years, and her sister, three confidantes in the best position to know. 831), a physician is required to disclose to the extent necessary to protect a threatened interest. The record also reveals that, although in July defendant told Det. However, the evidence also conclusively establishes that he rented and flew a Cessna 172 airplane beginning at 4:30 P.M. that day from Caldwell Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey and returned two hours later at 6:30 P.M. First, the court prohibited the People from showing the letter to the jury and, second, they were not permitted to adduce anything other than oral testimony describing only the type of letter the victim had received from defendant's psychiatrist. From there, he telephoned his apartment more than once. at 44, 608 N.Y.S.2d 1; cf. Anything could be helpful in locating Gail. I wanted her to stop yelling at me and I attacked her, Bierenbaum told the parole board, according to the transcript. There is every reason in this record to find that defendant was the last person to see her alive at 11:00 A.M. that Sunday morning. Any friends, relatives, anything that could assist me would certainly be very beneficial in locating her as quickly as possible. 255; Workman v. Boylan Buick, Inc., 36 A.D.2d 978, 979, 321 N.Y.S.2d 983; In re Von Bulow, 828 F.2d 94, 100-101). In it, they located a handwritten entry which appeared to have been changed from the original notation of 7/7/85 to the substituted date of 8/7/85. The Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) strongly emphasizes the importance of inclusion and representation by recognizing the unique challenges that non-binary and transgender incarcerated people face Gov. I went flying. Defendant contends: 1) that the trial justice improperly allowed the People to adduce opinion testimony that he was able, as a trained surgical resident, to dismember the victim's body within ten minutes, and also capable of packing it into a flight bag, whether or not the body had been disarticulated; and 2) that the court improperly permitted the jury to watch a videotaped demonstration depicting how a pilot can, without any assistance, load a 110 pound body, so packaged, onto a Cessna 172 airplane, fly it over the ocean, and discard it overboard. After reviewing the court's rulings and reasons in this regard, the other evidence, and the court's cautionary instructions to the jury during and at the trial's conclusion, we hold that none of these rulings compromised defendant's right to a fair trial.

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