at 3107, Oct. 23, 2000. DeCesare testified that Katz told her that Bierenbaum had threatened to kill her if she left him. RochesterHealth.com is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) community-centered website serving as a connection to Rochester-area healthcare resources. He works in Grand Forks, ND and specializes in Surgery and. Manhattan investigators were exhuming a woman's torso from a Queens cemetery and running DNA tests to determine whether it was that of his first wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, who had disappeared in 1985. The three psychiatrists, who treated Dr. Bierenbaum briefly in 1983, when he and his wife lived on the Upper East Side, warned his wife at the time that she was in danger. Copyright 2023, Thomson Reuters. Janet and the baby are fine. Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, then 39, an intense New Yorker with piercing eyes and an in-your-face manner, seemed misplaced amid the brawny and laconic citizenry. Bierenbaum told Katz's friend Ellen Schwartz that he had spoken with Katz's therapist Dr. Baran, who had told him that Katz was very depressed and she was concerned that Katz might hurt herself. The trial court also thereafter advised the jury: I have allowed the People to introduce evidence that on another occasion this defendant committed a prior, what we call legally []bad act, [] to wit, the strangling of Gail Katz Bierenbaum to unconsciousness and that was allowed in for certain limiting purposes and I want to make that very clear, as I did at the time such evidence was admitted. Under New York law, a motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence must be specifically directed at the alleged error. People v. Gray, 652 N.E.2d 919, 921 (N.Y.1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). Under New York law, the prosecution must establish good cause for extended delay, but a determination made in good faith to delay prosecution for sufficient reasons will not deprive defendant of due process even though there may be some prejudice to defendant. People v. Decker, 912 N.E.2d 1041, 1042 (N.Y.2009); see N.Y. Const. Bierenbaum, currently a resident of Grand Forks, N.D., faces amaximum term of 25 years to life in prison when he is sentencedNov. 20 by Justice Leslie Crocker Snyder. She states that on the morning Katz disappeared, Katz was screaming at someone. But last week, a Manhattan jury found Dr. Bierenbaum guilty of killing his first wife and. As physician and friend Marvin proved himself a real . He told O'Malley that Katz was depressed and suicidal. She provided a picture of Katz from the summer of 1985, and described her as less than five foot three, weighing approximately 110 pounds, with an A-cup bra size. He requested an evidentiary hearing. Even a neophyte could have found danger. Pressing the point on cross-examination risked alienating the jury for no particular strategic gain. Decker, 912 N.E.2d at 1043 (quoting People v. Taranovich, 335 N.E.2d 303, 306 (N.Y.1975)). Mr. Hussey recalled: ''He looked like death warmed over, and I said to him, 'Bob, you look sick.' Given that the videotapes were neither speculative nor lacking in foundation, counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to their admission on that basis. Relevant factors include spontaneity, repetition, the mental state of the declarant, absence of motive to fabricate, unlikelihood of faulty recollection and the degree to which the statement was against the declarant's interest. Being essentially softhearted, though, he e-mailed Dr. Bierenbaum before the trial to wish him good luck and got a brief response: ''Thanks. He has 26 years of experience. Hillard Wiese, Katz's cousin, testified that Katz reported to him in the fall of 1983 that she had an argument with her husband during which he had choked her to unconsciousness. Penal Law 125.25[1]. But his life in Minot was already fraying. Feb. 25, 2008). Ive waited for that sound a long time.. See Bierenbaum v. New York, 540 U.S. 821 (2003). Leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals was denied on March 10, 2003. Had the defense gotten Segalas to admit that he and Katz used cocaine on several occasions, the defense suggestion that she may have been killed by drug dealers would still have been plagued by lack of evidence, as the state court noted. These included Ellen Schwartz, Francesca Beale, Katz's therapist Dr. Sybil Baran, Anthony Segalas and Kenneth Feiner. ''I feel grief, like someone has died,'' he said. To the owner of Bierenbaum's vacation rental property in South Hampton, he speculated that Katz had a drug problem and that she had disappeared with drug dealers. In their last telephone conversation, Katz told DeCesare that she planned to ask Bierenbaum for a divorce, and that she had secretly borrowed $10,000.00 and put it in a safe deposit box to pay for a year of graduate school. I, 6. The decision not to call Alvarez was within the range of acceptable strategic and tactical alternatives. Luciano, 158 F.3d at 660. The faculty-student ratio at . They resided in a twelfth-floor apartment on East 85th Street in Manhattan. Many of our partners in care are also providing services on site, just as they did before. Close to midnight that evening Bierenbaum telephoned Dr. Yvette Feis, one of Katz's friends, asking if she knew where Katz was. Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a former plastic surgeon from New York convicted of murdering his wife in 2000, confessed to killing her and then throwing her body out of an airplane and into the Atlantic ocean after decades of maintaining his innocence. Moreover, at that point in the summation, the prosecuting attorney was cataloguing what he termed Bierenbaum's lies-to Dalsass, to O'Malley, to Caruana, and several other witnesses. ''We're from North Dakota and we trust people,'' said Mike Berg, a retired pharmacist and former head of the Rotary Club, who flew to Mexico with Dr. Bob. Prior to trial Bierenbaum's attorney moved to dismiss the indictment, contending that the evidence presented to the grand jury failed to prove that New York had jurisdiction to prosecute him for the murder, because assuming that Katz was dead, there was no evidence that her death occurred in New York. To prevail on such a claim under federal law, Bierenbaum must prove that the delay resulted in actual prejudice and that the prosecution's reasons for the delay were improper. Prior to that date he had not been permitted to enter the apartment. She told her friend that she was going to leave her husband that weekend, and that she was looking for another place to live. ''I have no idea what you've done in the past, you have no idea what I've done,'' Mr. Hussey concluded last week, after the verdict, seated in a restaurant near Minot International Airport, which has one baggage carousel. See Davis, 547 U.S. at 824 (holding that limiting the Confrontation Clause to testimonial hearsay is clearly reflected in the text of the constitutional provision); United States v. Feliz, 467 F.3d 227, 232 (2d Cir.2006) ([A]fter Crawford and Davis, the inquiry under the Confrontation Clause is whether the statement at issue is testimonial.); accord United States v. Williams, 506 F.3d 151, 156 (2d Cir.2007). Bierenbaum's only witness was Joel Davis, who saw a poster of the missing Katz and reported sighting her on a Manhattan street on the afternoon of Sunday, July 7. E.g., Henry v. Ricks, 578 F.3d 134, 137 (2d Cir.2009). University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Certifications:American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine. He described going to work Saturday morning, leaving the hospital and visiting his father, returning home around noon to go out to eat and do some shopping with his wife, including buying bras at a lingerie store and cat food at a pet supply store. 2120, 2008 WL 515035 (S.D.N.Y. Bierenbaum, 748 N.Y.S.2d at 583-84. With the benefit of hindsight, conceding that Katz died on July 7 may seem extraordinary, but at the time counsel would have had reason to believe that the jury was likely to hear from several reliable sources that she had appointments for the next day, and that she would have kept those appointments if she could have. Bierenbaum's attorney gave permission for the police to search for fingerprints and anything that might help them identify Katz. Currently incarcerated, Bierenbaum appeals from the February 26, 2008 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Sweet, J.) Not only that's not disputed by us, but that she likely died some time on July 7, 1985. Trial Tr. He completed his Residency in Emergency Medicine from Genesys Regional Medical Center. Dr. Yvette Feis, Katz's former professor and friend, testified that Katz told her she was looking for other sexual partners. In 1998 the investigation was reopened, and the body was exhumed and determined by DNA comparison not to be Katz. N E W  Y O R K, Oct. 24, 2000 -- Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a plastic surgeon who wascharged with killing his wife 15 years ago and dropping her bodyinto the ocean from an airplane, was convicted today ofsecond-degree murder. Of course, there is another explanation for what drew Dr. Bierenbaum here: the changes in medicine that have allowed the Trinity Health Center, where he worked, to become a regional hub. I heard the cuffs close round hishands. Your recollection controls. He told the detective assigned to investigate the case that he had last seen his wife on July 7 at approximately 11 a.m., and that she had left the apartment to get some sun in Central Park. Forensic tests of two automobiles that Bierenbaum was driving at the time also yielded no results. ''Most people don't know that Minot, North Dakota, is on the face of the map, so why come here?'' On appeal to the Appellate Division, First Department, Bierenbaum argued that his guilt was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 9. Although he followed in the footsteps of his father Dr. Marvin Bierenbaum by becoming a surgeon, he never gave up his dream of becoming the first Jewish astronaut. 5. ''Ten years ago we were a hospital, and now we're a health system,'' Schwann said, with 80 physicians, 7 community clinics and eye-care and mental-health programs. He also was the executive responsible for quality measures and meaningful use. Katz recounted an incident when Bierenbaum discovered her smoking a cigarette, got very angry, came at her and choked her. And as always, patient privacy and confidentiality remain of the utmost importance. Although the police wished to search for any evidence that would shed light on Katz's disappearance, the investigators felt they did not have probable cause to obtain a search warrant. On July 14, Dalsass met with Bierenbaum, his father and Katz's parents. as the organization's new Chief Medical Officer.. The Appellate Division concluded that the trial court's cautionary instructions about the prior assault evidence were legally satisfactory and adequately protected Bierenbaum's right to a fair trial. Doctoral Student: Professors are approachable and dedicated, as well as being experts in their respective fields. On February 25, 2008, the district court denied the petition without conducting an evidentiary hearing. His wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, 29, vanished on July 7, 1985.Her body was never recovered, and the prosecutions case was basedmainly on circumstantial evidence. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D. Bierenbaum does not dispute that Alvarez told the authorities in July 1985 that he did not recall seeing Katz on July 7, and that he did not remember how she was dressed the last time he did see her. He chokes her to death. He knew in July of 1985, what it would take to render her unconscious. The application fee at University of California--Los Angeles (Geffen) is $95. Sherman heard the noise of the high-heeled shoes, then she heard the door slam, and both the shouting and the sound of high heels on the floor stopped. A state prisoner may fairly present to the state courts the constitutional nature of his claim by claim[ing] the deprivation of a particular right specifically protected by the Constitution. Daye v. Att'y Gen. of the State of N.Y., 696 F.2d 186, 193 (2d Cir.1982) (en banc). No one, other than Bierenbaum, reported seeing Katz after July 6. The state court concluded therefore that defense counsel was not ineffective for failing to move to dismiss for pre-indictment delay. This was the same year that a partial female body washed ashore in Staten Island, New York. Claim your profile (701) 780-5260 . that denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Following the close of evidence, counsel move[d] to dismiss the indictment on the basis that the People have failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and to the legal standard required for the case to go to the jury. Id. Investigators with the Manhattan district attorney's office arrested him in Minot, and gave him 48 hours to return to New York and surrender. vol. Penal Law 125.25[1], and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of twenty years to life. 1. People here were on their guard at first because he dressed differently, had longer hair and a ''weird intensity'' about him. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? In the four to six months before she disappeared she told her therapist that she was looking for an apartment so that she could separate from Bierenbaum. The same compassionate staff continues to provide personalized service in the same warm, caring atmosphere you have come to expect. For more information, Given the seriousness of the charge, the circumstantial nature of the evidence, and no evidence of any improper motive on the part of the prosecution, the motion had no chance of success. Now we will tell you that the evidence will also show that she is dead. Courts have also considered the status or relationship to the declarant of the person to whom the statement was made, whether there was a coercive atmosphere, whether it was made in response to questioning and whether the statements reflect an attempt to shift blame or curry favor. ''. The Appellate Division found the error unpreserved, and declined to review it. For this strategy, the defense had no particular need to elicit evidence that Katz was a regular as opposed to occasional user. '' The next day, the news hit that he was in New York and under arrest for murder. Anyone can read what you share. Alayne Katz testified that her sister told her about a letter she had received from Bierenbaum's psychiatrist warning her about Bierenbaum's potential for dangerousness and advising her to move out. is dean and Professor of Medicine for the College of Medicine at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. At that time the police had not searched his apartment or car. The state court's determination that the cross-examination of Segalas was not constitutionally deficient was not an unreasonable application of Strickland. He works in Rochester, NY and 8 other locations and specializes in Emergency Medicine and Family Medicine. If you are uninsured or underinsured, or need a referral to a doctor or dentist, call our Affordable Health Line at 585-328-7000. Upon selling their Minot condominium, Dr. Bierenbaum took to sleeping on a folding cot in the hangar beside his airplane and showering in the hospital where he still treated patients. 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. More recently she talked of moving in with a girlfriend in Connecticut. During that period Caruana and Bierenbaum discussed Katz's disappearance. Martin learned that Bierenbaum was a licensed pilot. His arrest came nearly 15. It was not objectively unreasonable to do so. I, 1889. 2023 Rochester Health, Currently accepting new patients at this location. Bierenbaum, 44, was charged Tuesday with murdering Katz, loading her body into his twin-engine plane and flying out over the Atlantic to dump her in a watery grave. Dr. Baran denied that she'd had such a conversation with Bierenbaum and denied that Katz was suicidal. Graduate School. ''Going to other states and acting like you're innocent? Surgery, Internal Medicine. Although on this record the Appellate Division could have found a claim of lack of intent to kill unpreserved, it addressed the legal sufficiency of both elements of second degree murder: The People proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant had the opportunity, the motive, and the intent to kill his victim, and that it was he who did so. Bierenbaum, 748 N.Y. S.2d at 579. But his exotic skills and civic spirit soon won over the town: he published a bagel recipe in the local newspaper, read Hebrew amid the 20-some congregants of the tiny clapboard synagogue, even flew members of the Rotary Club to Mexico in his twin-engine Comanche to give free medical care to orphans. Please try again. Proactive and Reactive LiesDuring the trial, defense lawyer David Lewis denounced theprosecutions murder theory as guesswork since there are noeyewitnesses or physical evidence in the death of Katz-Bierenbaum.Lewis said Katz-Bierenbaum is probably dead, but he stated thatnobody knows how or why. Only later would he learn what had happened. A state court decision involves an unreasonable application of clearly established Supreme Court precedent if it correctly identifies the governing legal principle but unreasonably applies or unreasonably refuses to extend that principle to the facts of a particular case. Dr. Roberta Karnofsky, an anesthesiologist, had a year-long relationship with Bierenbaum beginning in fall 1985, while she was a medical student under his supervision. A state court's determination of a factual issue is presumed to be correct, and may only be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence. About The Provider. IV, 3212, Oct. 23, 2000. Counsel's theory was that Katz left the apartment on Sunday, and met with foul play after she left. Rochester, NY - Trillium Health, a community health center with an emphasis on affordable health care and located in downtown Rochester, announced the appointment of Robert "Rob" Biernbaum, D.O. Thus, Bierenbaum's challenge to the admission of Katz's statements must be evaluated under Roberts. ''We worry about today and tomorrow here, not last week.''. That is one of the theories that could have happened. Edgar Rivera told the police that he did not remember seeing Katz on July 7. He did not see her return. dr robert bierenbaum medical schoolaiken county sc register of deeds dr robert bierenbaum medical school When O'Malley followed this up in a second conversation, Bierenbaum said that Edgar was now not sure whether he'd seen her on that or another day. The prosecution also produced the testimony of Karen Caruana, a woman with whom Bierenbaum had a brief affair shortly after Katz disappeared. Alayne Katz, Katz's sister, testified that Katz had called her in the fall of 1983, extremely upset, and told her that her husband had tried to strangle her, that she lost consciousness, Bierenbaum revived her and apologized profusely. 2254(d); see also, e.g., Brown v. Alexander, 543 F.3d 94, 100 (2d Cir.2008). On October 17, 1986 she learned that Bierenbaum had rented an airplane from Mac Dan Aircraft Rental at Caldwell Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey on July 7, 1985, the day Katz disappeared. Members of the network collaborate on . In another conversation Katz told DeCesare that she and Bierenbaum had discussed the Claus von Bulow case, and that Bierenbaum had said the problem with the case was that von Bulow left evidence and that he would leave no evidence. Looking back, people see sinister clues in the fact that his socks were mismatched, his airplane a mess. After Bierenbaum's direct appeal was concluded, he filed a motion with the trial court to set aside the judgment on the grounds that trial and appellate counsel had rendered ineffective assistance of counsel. How close up you are with a person that you are choking Strangulation is up close and personal. FindLaw.com Free, trusted legal information for consumers and legal professionals, SuperLawyers.com Directory of U.S. attorneys with the exclusive Super Lawyers rating, Abogado.com The #1 Spanish-language legal website for consumers, LawInfo.com Nationwide attorney directory and legal consumer resources. According to his affidavit, on the Sunday before Katz's parents and the police inquired about her, he relieved the doorman, Edgar Rivera, at approximately 11:30 a.m. At that time he saw Katz leave the front entrance of the building wearing shorts and a t-shirt. One of his duties was to relieve the doorman at lunchtime. Bierenbaum had graduated from medical school in 1978, and was a surgical resident at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Is this you? She stated that he told her this before the end of September. Think about him standing over Gail Katz as she feels and he watches the life ebbing from her body. Rochester RHIO. In 1984 Katz told her about a time in 1983 when Bierenbaum noticed her smoking a cigarette on the terrace of their apartment, became violent and began choking her. The defense, knowing that the alternate scenarios for Gail Katz's death had little in the way of factual support, apparently chose to cast all of the scenarios-the prosecution's included-as merely theories, which could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. N E W Y O R K, Oct. 24, 2000 -- Dr. Robert Bierenbaum, a plastic surgeon who wascharged with killing his wife 15 years ago and dropping her bodyinto the ocean from an airplane, was convicted today ofsecond-degree murder. Defense counsel did not move to dismiss the indictment for undue delay. visit www.rpcn.org. On direct appeal, Bierenbaum contended that the trial court erroneously admitted videotapes, demonstrating how a pilot can, without assistance, place a flight bag loaded with one hundred ten pounds of weight into a Cessna 172, fly the plane over the ocean and push it out. On March 17, 2006, Bierenbaum filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. And when detectives grilled him about what he did on July 7, 1985, the day his wife disappeared, he never mentioned his two-hour solo flight in a Cessna over the Atlantic Ocean. During their second conversation, Bierenbaum told O'Malley that he had been mistaken and that the doorman thought it was another day that he had seen Katz. vol. Dr. Robert Bierenbaum had a second motive to murder his wife - she was threatening to expose him and his cardiologist father as Medicaid scammers, a witness told jurors yesterday. Friends and family posted pictures of Katz in the neighborhood. Id., 744 N.E.2d at 131 (citations, internal quotation marks and ellipses omitted). Under the circumstances, it was reasonable for defense counsel not to call Alvarez. Anthony Segalas testified at trial that he and Katz used cocaine together twice. IV, 3194, 3227-28. Local doctors here studied the demographics, and did not think a plastic surgeon would arrive until at least 2005. Who would come willingly to a place where many professionals -- particularly doctors who draw patients from the surrounding 100,000 square miles -- must fly single-engine planes to work? See Bierenbaum v. Graham, No. On Saturday, July 6, 1985, Katz kept a follow-up appointment with her gynecologist, and made a further appointment in December. The investigation was closed in April 1987. Find Dr. Biernbaum's address and more. In the 15 years since his wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, disappeared, Dr. Bierenbaum remarried, had a baby girl and built a thriving medical practice in Minot, N.D. Today, local rumor has it, the federal witness protection program relocates people here. Bierenbaum said no. Failure to cross-examine witness Anthony Segalas concerning Katz's use of cocaine. The next morning he went to work, and that evening reported Katz missing. Defense counsel did not object to the instruction or request a stronger one. The strategy was a reasonable one, given that the trial court would have provided a limiting instruction along the lines of the one given in the charge. You'll find that we're more than just a clinic or a service provider. The district court determined that Bierenbaum failed to exhaust his state court remedies with regard to his Confrontation Clause claim, finding that he did not argue the claim in his application for leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals. See Williams, 529 U.S. at 413; Ramdass v. Angelone, 530 U.S. 156, 166 (2000); accord Kennaugh v. Miller, 289 F.3d 36, 45 (2d Cir.2002). ''Murderer'' is the word Ms. Katz-Bierenbaum's sister, Alayne Katz, consistently used to describe him. Few questioned Dr. Bob, as they called him, who was convicted last week of murdering his first wife. See People v. McLaughlin, 606 N.E.2d 1357, 1359 (N.Y.1992) ([F]or the State to have criminal jurisdiction, either the alleged conduct or some consequence of it must have occurred within the State.). He had blocked the police from searching their Manhattan apartment. The trial judge denied the motion, but offered to tell the jury that Bierenbaum had no legal obligation to allow a search of his apartment, that he had a right to act on advice of counsel, and that the jury should draw no negative inference from that; but that in fact the apartment was not fully searched. We're a community of medical and social service professionals who meet patients and clients in a healing and affirming environment where they can feel supported, cared for, and cared about. O'Malley asked if Bierenbaum had ever hit his wife. Robert Biernbaum Do 259 Monroe Ave, Rochester, NY, 14607 8 other locations (585) 754-7858 Overview Locations OVERVIEW Dr. Biernbaum graduated from the University of New England College of. Failure to object to summation remarks. Dr. Robert Bierenbaum is a trained pilot serving 20 years to life in prison for the 1985 murder of his wife, Gail Katz. Regardless of whether counsel's performance was deficient in failing to secure Sherman's testimony, Bierenbaum cannot show prejudice. WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Robert Bierenbaum married his second wife, Dr. Janet Chollet, after moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, and the couple had a child together, according to The Charley Project. On the evening of Sunday, July 7, 1985, Bierenbaum attended a family gathering for a nephew's birthday in New Jersey, without Katz. The motion was denied on September 6, 2005, and leave to appeal was denied on January 12, 2006. Had defense counsel moved to dismiss the indictment, the motion would not have been granted, and therefore there was no reasonable probability that the outcome-proceeding to trial-would have been different. Bierenbaum had contacted O'Malley on July 10 to inquire about the progress of the investigation. Dear Nettie and entire Bierenbaum Family, The passing of Marvin aggrieved all in the Silverman family. The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him. U.S. Const. In short, Minot has always been a good place to reinvent oneself or to hide. Katz asked Beale if she could move in with her. 2005 - 2023 WebMD LLC. But Dr. Bierenbaum had a strong record, excellent training and appeared to have an unblemished past, Mr. Schwann recalled, until New York City investigators, accompanied by Mr. Maixner, arrived in November 1998 to look into some issues. The things you loved about AIDS Care have not changed as a result of our name change. Caruana testified that Bierenbaum told her in August or September that his apartment had been searched and that the police had cleared him. Certain of these witnesses also testified that Katz told them she had received a letter from Bierenbaum's therapist warning her that Bierenbaum was a danger to her, and that Katz intended to threaten Bierenbaum with disclosure of this letter.