Plastic Surgeon Robert Bierenbaum Finally Confesses to Tossing His first parole hearing is when, according to ABC While married to defendant, the victim had an affair with at least one other man; just before the day she disappeared she stated to a friend she was about to tell defendant she wanted a divorce; she had borrowed money to prepare to leave; she said she was seeing one or two other men and that she loved one of them; she was looking for an apartment and was seen with circled newspaper ads for apartment rentals the day before she disappeared and her friend had offered her a place in Connecticut to stay while she got herself resettled. Katz and Bierenbaum met in the early 1980s in Manhattan and had what initially seemed to be a magical romance, Katzs sister, Alayne Katz, told ABC News. We agree with only one claim of error. In 1984, she was so unhappy that she consulted a divorce lawyer. Powered by. Meanwhile, he remains imprisoned at the Otisville Correctional Facility, the records show. First, the court correctly ruled that defendant's objection in the form of a mistrial motion, after summations were completely over, was belated (see People v. Allende, 269 A.D.2d 211, 704 N.Y.S.2d 206, lv. rendered November 29, 2000, affirmed. Finally, although the alleged assault she recounted was undoubtedly extremely frightening, the proof shows her mental state so many hours later was not shown to be dominated by the same level of heightened excitement that would normally overwhelm a person in the immediate aftermath of such a recent traumatic shock. After all, he made several statements making it appear he had no idea how his wife disappeared, where she was, and when or whether she would ever return. In light of the foregoing, this verdict is supported by legally sufficient evidence and it is thoroughly consistent with the evidentiary weight. This abundant array of damning circumstantial evidence proves beyond any reasonable doubt that defendant intentionally killed this victim, that he did it on the date, at the time and for the reason the People offered; and that he disposed of her body as the People contend. However, the court, while prohibiting publication of its specific factual contents to the jury, did allow the jury to know that the letter warned the victim of the danger defendant posed to her. Yet, he omitted to tell the detective that he was a pilot and that on the previous afternoon he rented a plane from a New Jersey airport between 4:30 P.M. and 6:30 P.M. for a two-hour flight. The victim would complain also that defendant tried to exert excessive control over her, and she expressed fear of him more than once. After killing Katz, he got rid of her body where no one would find it. In fact, defendant even misstated to Det. Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) 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. Man confesses 20 years later to killing wife, throwing her into ocean However, on July 10, he called Det. The psychiatrist communicated the consented-to warning by sending a letter, sometimes referred to as a Tarasoff letter (see Tarasoff v. Regents of Univ. However, the proof here evinces defendant's intent to focus his aggression on one person, namely, his wife-his victim. 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. Indeed, this prosecution contention-i.e., that it helped expose defendant's motives-was a valid one, as it is at the heart of the People's case. 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. Sgt. The remains were buried, the article said. at 293, 61 N.E. He urges now-as he did at trial-that the court could have served the People's purpose adequately by only allowing the People to use the letter to inform the jury that the letter existed, and stipulating that its unspecified contents would embarrass defendant. In a domestic violence homicide, as this clearly is, it is highly probative-quite often far outweighing any prejudice-that a couple's marriage was strife-ridden and that defendant previously struck and/or threatened the spouse-victim (see People v. La France, 182 A.D.2d 598, 599-600, 583 N.Y.S.2d 835, lv. GRAND FORKS -- The story of Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a plastic surgeon who practiced in Grand Forks and Minot and later was convicted for the murder of his wife in their Manhattan apartment, will air in a two-hour, special 20/20 program beginning at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, on ABC. The court must assess not only the nature of the startling event and the amount of time which has elapsed between the occurrence and the statement, but also the activities of the declarant in the interim (People v. Edwards, 47 N.Y.2d 493, 497, 419 N.Y.S.2d 45, 392 N.E.2d 1229). In one instance he falsely claimed that a private detective, whom he also claimed he hired to find her, learned she was living in California with financial support from her family. Furthermore, he did not turn over the victim's telephone/ address book until more than two weeks after her disappearance; 7. Defendant essentially admitted as much, and was heard to say, more than once, that during one argument there was physical contact, that their last argument was explosive and severe, and that he was frustrated in his marriage because they argued constantly. Armed with circled apartment rental ads the day before she disappeared, the victim declared to her close friend, Denise Kasenbaum, that she was leaving defendant that weekend. 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. Former NY surgeon admits killing wife, throwing body from airplane in 1985 (NCD). Doctor Convicted in 1985 Missing Body Defendant was pretty surprised and stunned and asked her what she knew. Robert Bierenbaum - Wikipedia He was inconsistent about his purported knowledge of his wife's post-July 7 whereabouts, alluding to different theories and purported sightings to different people. The trial justice's carefully balanced decisions allowed the People to show only the existence and the general nature of the letter in order legitimately to probe defendant's motive. 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 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. Alayne Katz told ABC News she immediately knew something was very wrong. One of the prosecution's key assertions was that defendant was motivated to kill his wife because she threatened to destroy him by exposing the letter's contents should he fail to meet her divorce demands. at 569, 457 N.Y.S.2d 451, 443 N.E.2d 925). The record also reveals that, although in July defendant told Det. 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. Kieran Crowley. Moreover, the justice's immediate response-I suspect I'll allow it-is of no greater legal significance. For the entire week immediately following the victim's disappearance, defendant failed to return Det. When Dalsass arrived, the crime scene unit was only allowed to search for fingerprints, the victim's diary and her address book. Contact us. More than 30 years later, Robert Bierenbaum confesses to her murder. This complaint-apart from ignoring or underestimating the appropriate, limiting language the court carefully chose to caution and instruct the jury-misconstrues the rationale underlying People v. Molineux, 168 N.Y. 264, 61 N.E. Contested are the way and reason her life ended, the way her killer disposed of her body immediately thereafter, and her killer's identity and state of mind. To them he insisted that he had remained in the apartment until 5:30 P.M. without leaving at all. Notwithstanding these and other direct, uncomplicated admonitions, defendant omitted telling Det. Parker Sentenced To Life In Prison | The Seattle Times 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. 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. All of Bierenbaums appeals over the years were unsuccessful. Katz-Bierenbaums family requested that the remains be reexamined in 1997 when DNA testing became available, according to The Charley Project. Together, the two women looked for and found defendant's flight log. All rights reserved. Robert Bierenbaum (born July 22, 1955) is an American former plastic surgeon and convicted murderer. It was therefore highly relevant to the question of defendant's motive that the jury be allowed to know and consider the consequences the victim intended by threatening defendant with such a disclosure to his superiors and peers, a disclosure which would likely compromise severely his professional status, his personal reputation and standing, and his economic future. The Charley Project Illustrative-but not exhaustive-are the following examples: 1. Defendant argues that on October 11, when the People turned over to the defense copies of the videotaped demonstration and indicated they intended to offer the videotape into evidence on October 16, the defense uttered the following: I suspect we'll object.. 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. A few weeks after his wife disappeared, defendant began dating a nurse whom he knew from Maimonides Hospital where they were employed. 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. WebThe Washington State Department of Corrections manages all state-operated adult prisons and supervises adult inmates who live in the community. We hold that the reliability of this evidence, initially a question for the court to resolve, is amply supported by this record. Finally, the court's cautionary instructions to the jury were more than adequate to assure a relevant and fair consideration of this evidence and avoid prejudicial impact. While the statement must have been made before the declarant had the opportunity to reflect, the time for reflection is not measured in minutes or seconds, but rather is measured by facts. (People v. Marks, 6 N.Y.2d 67, 72, 188 N.Y.S.2d 465, 160 N.E.2d 26, cert. bierenbaum parole 2020 Thus, under Ruloff v. People, 18 N.Y. 179, those two facts once precluded a murder prosecution in New York. WebSTATE OF NEW YORK BOARD OF PAROLE APPEALS UNIT FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATION Name: Bierenbaum, RobertDIN:00-A-7114 Facility: Otisville CF AC All three subsequently contacted Katz and warned her that her life could be in danger, the newspaper reported. The Surgeon's Wife We also reject defendant's claims in their entirety that the prosecutor's summation exacerbated the error which he says occurred by dint of the court's decision to admit evidence of the 1983 choking incident; and that the court's charge did not, nor could it, adequately safeguard defendant's right to a fair trial. When he exhibited hesitation in responding to her, she jokingly asked him if he had killed his wife. 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. Defendant himself said his wife told him she wanted a divorce. of Cal., 17 Cal.3d 425, 131 Cal.Rptr. Rather, the evidence is credible and we hold that the resulting inference is strong. Robert Bierenbaum first made headlines for the murder of his wife Gail Katz. In the days, weeks, months and years following his wife's disappearance, defendant made several inconsistent, unfounded or otherwise suspect and incriminating statements. Therefore, he argues such evidence unduly prejudiced him, outweighing any of its probative value. 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. Convicted Man Confesses to Murdering Wife in 1985 Moreover, he told Dr. Feis-after withholding the whole truth from others, and from her during their many earlier conversations subsequent to July 7-that his last encounter with his wife on July 7 ended in an argument more severe than he had previously let on, that it had become explosive, and that in its midst he had failed to heed his psychiatrist's advice to defuse the situation. More specifically, he also admitted to his father that they had difficulty in adjusting to each other, and in 1983 [t]hat they had an argument, had some physical contact. By way of corroboration, Dr. Leigh McCullough testified that in November 1983 she saw finger shaped bruises on the victim's neck, and the latter told her that defendant choked her when he became angry at seeing her smoking a cigarette. Robert Bierenbaum was sentenced to 20 years to life and is currently incarcerated at New Yorks Attica Correctional Facility. Surgeon Killed Wife, Dumped the Body in the Atlantic From a 1. Accordingly, there can be no holding that this verdict is against the weight of the evidence. 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. Jake Massey. Therefore, the trial justice's ruling was a careful and completely reasonable exercise of judicial discretion. at 184). 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: Conviction of former Minot surgeon 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. NYC surgeon admits to killing his wife by throwing her out of a plane 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.