Product Code Database
Joel Barnet Steinberg (born May 25, 1941) is a disbarred New York City criminal defense attorney who attracted international media attention when he was accused of rape and murder, and was convicted of manslaughter, in November 1, 1987, for the beating and subsequent death of a six-year-old girl, Elizabeth ("Lisa") Launders, who he and his live-in partner, Hedda Nussbaum, had illegally .
The couple also raised two illegally children, 6-year-old Lisa and 16-month-old Mitchell. Steinberg had been hired by a single mother named Michele Launders to locate a suitable adoptive family for Lisa. Launders paid Steinberg $500, requesting Lisa be placed in a Roman Catholic family. Steinberg reportedly found a family, but the adoption fell through when they refused to pay $50,000 for the baby. Steinberg decided to bring Lisa to live with them, but never filed formal adoption papers, and the child was not legally adopted.
Mitchell had also been illegally adopted, with the child being recommended to them by Dr. Peter Sarosi, who had previously treated Nussbaum for infertility. Nicole Smigiel, the boy's birth mother, was 16 years old at the time. She allowed the doctor and an attorney handle the adoption. However, papers were never filed, and no payments were made, causing the adoption of Mitchell to be ruled illegal.
The relationship between Steinberg and Nussbaum was fraught, with neighbors regularly phoning police during their 13-year relationship to report that Steinberg beat Nussbaum. Her screams often echoed through the air shafts of the building, and friends begged Nussbaum to leave Steinberg. On previous visits, police found Nussbaum hiding in a closet, and refusing to come out. Neighbors also reported suspected child abuse, and investigators twice visited the apartment, but found nothing wrong. Nussbaum suffered multiple broken bones over the last 10 years of her relationship with Steinberg, with the heaviest attacks occurring in the last five years the couple was together. Her nose had been broken several times, and she had cauliflower ears as a result of the beatings.
The police found the apartment in a squalid state, with excrement and garbage strewn around, and no working lights. Cocaine, hashish and marijuana were found, along with $25,000 in cash and travelers checks, leading police to believe the couple had been drug dealing. They also discovered another adopted child, 16-month-old Mitchell. He had been tied to his playpen and had only a mat to sleep on. The police brought him to St. Vincent's Hospital, who discharged him, stating he was in good health. He was to be placed in foster care.
In addition to Steinberg's deadly assault on Lisa, Nussbaum showed signs of physical abuse at Steinberg's hands. She was admitted to a prison hospital, to treat nine broken ribs, a broken nose, and gangrene on her leg. The gangrene was so serious that doctors considered amputating the limb.
Lisa remained in the hospital for three days before being diagnosed as brain dead. She died after her life support was removed. Her birth mother, Michelle Launders, went to court to obtain the right to bury Lisa, stating that she did not want the child to be buried by the same people who killed her. The judge ruled in her favor, due to Lisa never having been legally adopted. She was buried on London Island with over 1,000 people attending the funeral.
New York State's child abuse phone line was overwhelmed with calls following the news of Lisa's death. The department of Social Services, which operated the phone line, said that on a single Sunday they had received 588 calls, 83% more than they usually received.
During the trial teachers testified that Lisa was outgoing and friendly, but often arrived late to school. They reported seeing her with a black eye, and bruises across her legs. Sometimes she showed up to school in unwashed clothing, and once seemed to have had a clump of her hair chopped off.
In New York State at that time, first-degree murder applied only to those who killed police officers or had committed murder while already serving a sentence for a previous murder. The jury was unable to convict Steinberg on the more serious charge of second-degree murder, but it did convict him of the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter. Judge Harold Rothwax subsequently sentenced Steinberg to the maximum penalty then available for that charge: 8 to 25 years in state prison.
On five occasions, Steinberg was denied discretionary parole, mainly because he never expressed remorse for the killing. However, on June 30, 2004, he was paroled under the state's "good time" law, which mandated the release of inmates who exhibited good behavior while incarcerated after having served two-thirds or more of the maximum possible sentence. New York State has since increased this ratio to six-sevenths of the maximum term for persons convicted of violent felonies. Steinberg had spent most of his imprisonment at New York State's supermax prison, the Southport Correctional Facility, presumably to prevent him from being attacked by other inmates.
After his release, Steinberg moved to Harlem, where he took up work in the construction industry. As of 2006, he maintained his innocence. In 2017, the New York Post interviewed Steinberg, who continued to deny allegations that he murdered Lisa. Instead he claimed that it was the removal of Lisa's life support that was to blame for her death.
On January 16, 2007, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division (New York's intermediate appellate court) upheld a $15 million award against Steinberg to Michele Launders, Lisa's birth mother. In its opinion, Launders v. Steinberg, 2007 NY Slip Op 00246 (Jan. 16, 2007 N.Y. App. Div). the court rejected the position that Steinberg, who acted as his own attorney, put forth:
As part of Mitchell's custody battle, Smigiel's social worker reports were shared, revealing why Mitchell had been put up for adoption. Smigiel had been 16 at the time she became pregnant with Mitchell, and remained in denial until she was eight months' pregnant. When she discovered her prom dress wouldn't fit, she sought help from social services with the support of her mother. Social services noted that Smigiel had experienced morning sickness, and vomited blood, but believed she had a life-threatening illness. She went to a doctor for a physical examination, but the possibility of pregnancy wasn't discussed. When her pregnancy was confirmed by a doctor, Smigiel immediately began discussing how to arrange an adoption for the child.
Dr. Peter Sarosi delivered Mitchell at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan through induced labor when Smigiel was eight months and one week pregnant. Sarosi contacted Nussbaum, who he'd treated for infertility in the past, to see if she would be interested in adopting the child with Steinberg. Steinberg was interested, and recommended that David Verplank handle the legal arrangements. The child was handed over to Dr. Sarosi's wife, who turned the child over to Steinberg. Sarosi claimed he received no money from the adoption.
In November 1987, Smigiel won temporary custody of Mitchell when the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court ruled that Steinberg and Nussbaum had no right to block the custody transfer. The judge mentioned the appalling conditions in which the child was found on November 2nd as one of the reasons for their ruling. Smigiel dropped out of Loyola University in Baltimore and moved in with her parents to care for Mitchell, who she renamed Travis Christian.
Hedda Nussbaum's parents were devastated by the ruling, having prepared to spend Christmas with the boy. Steinberg's parents strongly defended their son, insisting that Lisa and Mitchell were raised in a happy home. They claimed they saw the children often, with Steinberg bringing them to his parents' house in Yonkers. Nussbaum gave up her attempts to gain custody of Mitchell after seeing footage of Smigiel being reunited with him.
|
|
