Last update - 00:00 08/02/2007
Court reduces Klagsbald's jail term for causing fatal crash
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday reduced by two months the jail sentence of attorney Avigdor Klagsbald, who was convicted of causing death by negligence in a fatal car accident last year.
Klagsbald's prison sentence was reduced from 15 to 13 months.
Yevgenia Wexler, 23, and her 6-year-old son Arthur were killed on April 11, when their vehicle was hit by Klagsbald as he was driving his Volkswagen Touareg into Tel Aviv at high speed. About 50 meters before an intersection, his SUV side-swiped several cars waiting at the traffic lights.
According to the prosecution, Klagsbald's negligence lasted for 14 crucial seconds, during which he could have prevented the accident.
Klagsbald is regarded as one of Israel's expert defense lawyers in white-collar cases, and was the personal attorney of former prime minister Ariel Sharon.
The decision to reduce Klagsbald's sentence was reached by the three District Court judges who reviewed his appeal.
Judge Ze'ev Hammer, who led the review, and Judge Yehudit Shitzer both agreed to reduce the sentence by two months. Judge Yehudit Shevach thought the sentence should have been reduced to ten months, but was outvoted.
The charge of severe negligence formulated during the original trial in Traffic Court, was not reduced however.
Hammer, who drafted the majority ruling in the appeal, explained that Klagsbald had been driving at a very high speed toward other vehicles that had stopped at a traffic light. The lawyer had not modified his speed in accordance with the situation, the judge said.
He said that despite the claims of Klagsbald's defense team, the negligence had stretched out for many seconds before the collision. The judge also rejected the defense claim that Klagsbald had suffered from "temporary loss of orientation" that had caused the accident.
"There are alternative scenarios (which I won't presume to determine) such as not keeping one's eyes on the road for an extended period of time, or concentrating on something inside the vehicle such as a telephone, radio, papers, or anything else," Hammer wrote.
However, the judge decided to take into consideration the fact that Klagsbald had confessed to the crime and voluntarily began serving his jail sentence even before the appeal.
"Confessing is the first step toward proving that you are prepared to take responsibility for your actions," Hammer wrote.
"The appellant did not try to delay his punishment, and relinquished his right to demand a postponement of his sentence. He confessed and contributed to the speedy and efficient trial process. The court must encourage this kind of behavior, and at the end of the day, this must also be manifested in the penal result."
Minority opinion: Negligence not criminal
Judge Yehudit Shevach maintained that Klagsbald's negligence leading up to the accident was not criminal, as the prosecution had claimed, but "negligence in a moderate degree."
Shevach wrote that Klagsbald "did not commit an outstanding traffic violation; the appellant drove at a speed within the limit; the appellant was not driving under the influence of alcohol; the appellant was not speaking on the phone during the accident. The incident occurred due to a loss of control resulting from an unknown cause for a period of time that encompasses mere seconds."
The judge also mentioned the media coverage of the incident, which harshly criticized Klagsbald. "I won't presume to determine whether the media intended to influence the outcome of the trial, and no one can know whether the trial's outcome was in fact tainted by the media," Shevach said.
In addition to the incarceration, Klagsbald was sentenced to a 15-month suspended sentence, his driving license was revoked for ten years, and he was ordered to pay a fine of NIS 10,000. These elements of his punishment remain unchanged.