Gerard MarroneI didn't think I could be more disturbed and sickened by the murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky than I was already. Then I saw defense attorney Gerard Marrone on the news, explaining why he suddenly resigned from the case. Looking like a haunted man, Marrone said that as the father of three boys, he could not in good conscience continue to represent Kletzky's alleged killer, Levi Aron.
"I looked at my own children and there are no words. You see the victim and you feel so sad," said Marrone, who admitted to breaking down in tears over the "horrific" way Kletzky's life was ended.
"A little piece of me died when I got this case," he said.
That's when the gut-wrenching tragedy hit me on a whole new level. Criminal defense attorneys are tough guys; it comes with the territory. I've never seen someone in that line of work so openly repulsed by his client that he's forced to not only drop the case, but to drop all legal pretense and publicly react on a strictly human level: I'm too horrified by this man to defend him.
What did Marrone see in Aron's eyes that shook him so badly? Those were the last eyes Leiby Kletzky ever looked into. To think that a perfectly innocent child had to spend the final moments of his life under that cold, empty stare makes me doubt the very order of the universe. So I completely understand what Marrone meant when he said, "Before I got involved I believed in the divinity of human beings, and when I got involved I questioned the divinity of human beings."
Of course he had to give up the case. As parents, how can we carry on raising our children if we don't harbor even the faintest hope that there's some meaning behind human life? I admire Marrone's honesty and his decision to put his children first.
Do you agree that Marrone did the right thing when he gave up the Leiby Kletzky case?
Image via ABC
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Comments 59
He did what was right for him. Good for him.
Inspiring.
This is what happens when people stop chasing the almighty dollar and start being human again. It's about being able to live with and have respect for yourself. I wish more people acted like this.
You know, I understand the need for defense attorneys. I don't understand how they can defend someone who commits a crime like this one, and look at themselves in the mirror or sleep at night. The details of this crime must be horrific, because Mr. Marrone looks like he's an established criminal defense attorney, and one has to assume he's seen his share of unspeakable acts. Good for him for refusing the case.
Absolutely.
I admire him. truthfull and actually looking at his family and realizing he can't defend someone who did a horrible deed to a child good for him I think any body who harms a child just needs to burn in hell suffer what they put those children through. torture them like they did the child let them get a feeling of what its like to be tortured