Larry Montes, 46, looked “subdued” when he pleaded not guilty in court to disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation in Midtown, attacking two people and damaging religious property on Aug. 14, Serena Smulansky told JNS.
Smulansky, who is part of a group of court watchers that show support in Jew-hatred cases, attended the arraignment on Wednesday.
“He didn’t say a word,” she told JNS. “I was on the row behind him, and he looked like he might fall asleep.”
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said on Wednesday that the city is bringing hate crime charges against Montes.
The New York City Police Department previously told JNS that Montes faced 14 charges, including six hate crimes.
On Wednesday, the city said that he was indicted on two hate crime counts of second-degree criminal mischief and one count each of hate crime second-degree attempted assault, hate crime third-degree assault and second-degree criminal interference with religious worship, “among other charges.”
“Places of worship should be safe havens, not scenes of violence and hate,” Bragg stated. “As alleged, Larry Montes endangered congregants in the middle of services. He is charged with subsequently attacking two people in unprovoked, bias-motivated assaults and destroying religious property, all while spewing bigoted language.”
“As the Jewish High Holidays approach, we will remain vigilant alongside the NYPD to protect our synagogues throughout Manhattan,” he added.
Smulansky told JNS that two plainclothes federal agents led Montes, who was handcuffed and clad in prison garb, through the courtroom prior to the arraignment.
“They sat on the front row, normally reserved for lawyers,” she said.
After his case was called and his Legal Aid Society NYC attorney joined him, the prosecutor read the charges.
“He pleaded not guilty,” she said. “Montes was mumbling and for a second, I thought he said ‘guilty.’”
The prosecutor also said that Montes declared himself to be “Hashem,” Hebrew for God, ruined more than $7,000 worth of candlesticks and punched a woman in the face, causing her to fall and injure herself, according to Smulansky.
The city also alleged that he spat in a security guard’s face, used a racial slur to refer to him and tried to headbutt him, she said.
She and others were pleasantly surprised to see Bragg both at the arraignment and at proceedings in another case, in which Raul Morales, 51, allegedly stabbed two men near Upper West Side synagogues on July 23.
Morales, who wore a prison jumpsuit, “looked haggard, just as he had in the photos at the crime scene,” Smulansky told JNS. He entered the court via a side entrance and pleaded not guilty, she said.
When prosecutors said in court that he had Jew-hatred on his phone, that was a revelation “albeit not surprising,” she told JNS.
Bragg’s office stated that investigators uncovered evidence that Morales “specifically harbors antisemitic views,” including antisemitic text messages found on his phone.
The city alleged that Morales “returned to his New York City-provided housing” after the attack “and refused to come out for nearly an hour,” Smulansky said.
“When Morales did exit his apartment, he had changed from the clothes he was wearing at the time of the crime, although those clothes were later recovered, along with phones containing antisemitic material, from the defendant’s apartment,” she said.
“The Legal Aid Society lawyers representing Morales did not have anything to add at this juncture, except something vague about preparing a report,” she said.
Prosecutors also highlighted the alleged comment that Morales made about “justice for Islam,” which received less public attention than reports that he yelled “Allahu akbar,” according to Smulansky.
“It was surprising to see District Attorney Alvin Bragg there,” Smulansky told JNS. “This is the first time I have seen him, although I have attended proceedings for years. At the same time, this is an attempted murder case, so it is a big deal.”
It was also the first time she saw Bragg “at one of our hate crime matters.”
“The optimist in me reads this as an increased interest in the Jewish community’s well-being at a challenging and dangerous time for us,” she told JNS. “The cynic in me worries the apparent uptick in interest is down to the significant press coverage of this case and it being election season.”
Both victims were “discharged from the hospital within days,” Smulansky said, but “the effects of the attacks continue to affect the victims to this day.”
Morales faces four counts of attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime and multiple assault charges as hate crimes.
“Raul Morales was allegedly motivated by antisemitism when he attacked two New Yorkers in broad daylight near two Upper West Side synagogues,” Bragg stated. “Since the initial arrest, my office has continued to thoroughly investigate this matter and uncovered additional evidence alleging the defendant specifically harbors antisemitic views.”
“This case is a prime example of how hate crimes make all of us less safe,” Bragg stated. “I want to make clear to all Manhattanites that we will stand with and support you no matter your background, ethnicity or religion.”
Morales is accused of stabbing a 57-year-old Asian-American man in the back with a knife near West 83rd Street and Central Park West on July 23, yelling “Allahu akbar” during the attack and later shouting “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue.
About 12 minutes later, prosecutors say, Morales allegedly stabbed Moshe Grunhaus, 50, who was wearing a kippah, in the chest with a screwdriver near West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The first victim arrived at the hospital with the knife still lodged in his back and required surgery.
“I spoke to chaplain Sheldon Fine, who visited victim Grunhaus in the hospital on the day of the attack,” Smulansky told JNS. “He spoke of Grunhaus’s incredible stoicism and his wish for a bracha,” or blessing.
Fine also spoke about continued post-traumatic stress “in the wake of these sorts of attacks” and how Grunhaus “has not been immune,” Smulansky said.
