Rabbi who hit, killed pedestrian gets two years deferred
By Nancy Bartley
Seattle Times staff re****ter
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004250200_sentencing29m.html
Last Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz's
anguished prayers went on for eight hours.
It illustrated the despair the West Seattle rabbi felt over the death of
Tatsuo ****ata - the man he struck and killed the previous November, one of
Schwartz's faithful said Thursday in Seattle Municipal Court, where his
rabbinical colleagues, congregants and family packed the court to beg
Municipal Court Judge George Holifield for mercy.
In the ****ata family's view, leniency was what Schwartz got.
"It's not enough," sobbed Bernadette ****ata, the victim's sister, after
the
sentencing.
The morning of Nov. 14, 2006, Schwartz struck Tatsuo ****ata, who was
crossing Southwest Admiral Way in a crosswalk at 47th Avenue Southwest.
****ata, 29, who was an aide to then-City Councilman David Della, later
died
at Harborview Medical Center.
There were no skid marks to show Schwartz tried to brake, Senior Assistant
City Attorney Kevin Kilpatrick said. "He wasn't paying attention."
Schwartz, the director of the West Seattle Torah Learning Center, was on
his
cellphone at the time, according to court testimony.
It was the second time Schwartz had struck someone with his car. The first
time was in May 2005, when he struck Ilsa Govan, who was riding her bike
along Interlaken Drive East. Schwartz's car crossed the lane and collided
with her, she testified at the sentencing.
"I just wish there was something that could have been done after he hit
me,"
Govan said through her tears.
Schwartz was cited for driving on the wrong side of the road, but the
charge
was later removed from his record. "I feel lucky to be here. I wish Mr.
Schwartz would make the decision never to drive again."
The deferred sentence means that if Schwartz, 37, has no infractions of
the
law after two years the charge will be dropped from his record.
"I'm outraged," City Attorney Tom Carr said. "To be given a deferred
sentence after a trial ... ."
In January, a jury found Schwartz guilty of assault-injury by vehicle and
the prosecutor wanted him to spend time in jail. Schwartz could have been
jailed up to a year.
But Holifield said no jail time would bring ****ata back.
Holifield on Thursday suspended Schwartz's license for two years and told
him he would have to reapply through the Department of License, pay any
funeral or medical costs from the accident, and do 500 hours of community
service outside his Jewish community.
Some 100 letters sup****ting Schwartz were sent to the judge, and
sup****ters
spoke about his care and sup****t. He told the court that as a result of
publicity about the case, he's also received anti-Semitic mail.
One of Schwartz's congregants, Carmen Crincoli, said that on Yom Kippur
last
September it was agonizing to watch Schwartz's prayers go on and on,
evidence, he believed, of the rabbi's inner turmoil. He begged the judge
not
to incarcerate Schwartz.
The judge said that protecting the public from Schwartz's driving was his
main concern.
"Regardless or not if he's a good person," Holifield said, "he's a lousy
driver."
The King County Prosecutor's Office declined to prosecute Schwartz because
he wasn't intoxicated or driving recklessly. Instead, Schwartz was charged
with assault-injury by vehicle, a gross misdemeanor, filed by the Seattle
city attorney in Seattle Municipal Court.
When speaking to the court, Schwartz at times was tearful and said that a
DVD of ****ata's life - sent to him by ****ata's family - rests beside his
bed.
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