Montessori Forensics Blog

Robert Chambers

The following case summary (and class discussion) was loosely adapted from material available at CourtTV.com and from Crime Library.com:
The Preppie Murder Case

Just after six on the morning of Aug. 26, 1986, a bicyclist pedaled along her usual morning route down a winding tree-lined path. As she made a final turn, something caught her eye. It was a young woman, her pink and white miniskirt hiked up past her waist and her bra and white blouse pushed up around her neck.

While dead bodies in public places were not entirely uncommon in a year when New York City notched nearly 1,600 homicides, the discovery of Jennifer Levin's body under a leafy elm tree behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art instantly drew attention.

On the night of Levin's death, Robert Chambers' girlfriend Alex publicly broke up with him at an East 84th Street bar, allegedly because of Levin. That night, Chambers left the bar with Levin.

Levin's strangled, semi-clad corpse, covered in bruises, bite marks, and cuts, was found by a bicyclist beneath an elm tree on a grassy knoll near Fifth Avenue and 83rd Street behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her bra and shirt were pushed up to her neck, and her skirt was around her waist. The city Medical Examiner's office said Levin died of "asphyxia by strangulation" and police officials said there were numerous bruises on her neck, both from the strangulation and from her own fingernails as she clawed at her murderer's hands. Later,

Chambers watched from nearby as police officers investigated and found Levin's underwear some 50 yards away

Chambers was charged with, and tried for, two counts of second-degree murder. The trial opened on January 4, 1988.

The prosecution had police officers and forensic investigators detail the crime scene, the location and condition of the body, however the handling and processing of the evidence at the crime scene was not perfect. At times, it was less than acceptable and defense attorney Jack T. Litman was able to cast doubt on much of the critical forensic evidence offered by Prosecutor Linda Fairstein concerning the crime scene.

When police first came upon the scene, they theorized that Ms. Levin must have been killed by a stranger. Only after interviewing her family and friends and learning that Mr. Chambers had been at an Upper East Side bar with her until late did the police visit Mr. Chambers’s apartment, where his body showed signs of a struggle. He was arrested at that time.

The trial judge turned down a motion by the prosecutors to use as evidence a denim jacket that they believed was used to suffocate Ms. Levin. The jacket had blood from Mr. Chambers’s fingers and Ms. Levin’s mouth, as well as her saliva. The judge ruled that the DNA analysis techniques available at the time were not sufficient to allow the jacket as evidence.

Medical Examiner Dr. Maria Alandy testified to the post mortem examination and stated that compression of the victim's neck had to be substantial in order to effect death.

A parade of young people who were friends of the victim, or who were at the bar on the fateful night, took the stand to testify.

For her final witness, Fairstein put on a Dr. Werner Spitz, the chief medical examiner for the city of Detroit who would give his opinion as to the nature of Levin's injuries. For the defense, the estimate of time it took to strangle Jennifer was essential, because Chambers' explanation was that he had grabbed Jennifer by the neck for a moment and threw her off of him.

Defense attorney Jack Litman argued that the killing had happened during "rough sex." He only called five witnesses to testify for Chambers including Dr. Ronald Kornblum, chief medical examiner for Los Angeles, who refuted Dr. Spitz's observations as best he could.

The defense sought to depict Levin as a promiscious woman who kept a "sex diary." No such diary existed; but Levin had owned a small notebook that contained the names and phone numbers of her friends.

The media labeled the crime "The Preppie Murder." Part of the media reported the more lurid aspects of the case; e.g. New York Daily News headlines read: "How Jennifer Courted Death" and "Sex Play Got Rough." Levin's reputation was attacked, while Chambers was portrayed as a Kennedy-esque "preppie altar boy" with a "promising future".

Archbishop Ted McCarrick of Newark, New Jersey, later Archbishop of Washington, wrote a letter of support for Chambers's bail application. He had known Chambers and his mother because Phyllis had been employed as a nurse by Terence Cardinal Cooke.

Chambers was bailed out by his family and the owner of the bar. He remained free on bond for the two years of his trial, reporting regularly to family friend Monsignor Thomas Leonard, a former teacher.

By March 10, the defense rested and the case later went to the jury.

We will discuss the case outcome in class on Friday

posted by Mr. Barkan @ 11:59 AM