The
United States Supreme Court declined to hear "Rabbi" Daniel Greer's
appeal of the $21 million civil verdict entered against him almost three
years ago in Federal Court. Greer filed a petition for certification
before the Supreme Court after he had lost on appeal at the Second
Circuit Court of Appeals. Greer's attorneys argued on appeal that the
verdict was "excessive" and "shocking" and should either be completely
set aside or reduced. The Second Circuit held the following: "The
amount of compensatory damages is undoubtedly high, but we are not
persuaded that a new trial or remittitur (reduction) is warranted under
Connecticut law. The award here is not excessive when compared to the
awards in the cases cited above. Here, the record indicates that EM
suffered repeated abuse for approximately three years, from the time he
was fourteen until he was seventeen years old. At certain points, EM
was abused for hours at a time, on a weekly basis. The first time Greer
abused EM, he plied EM with alcohol, pretended to care about EM and his
family, acknowledged EM's parents' financial struggles, and then kissed
him. Eventually the abuse included oral sex, anal sex, mutual
masturbation, and watching pornography together — while EM was a
sophomore, junior, and senior in high school and Greer was a
60-something year old man."
The
New Haven Police arrested Greer a few months after the civil verdict of
$20 million entered in the child rape case. If Greer had won the civil
case I don't believe that the State's Attorneys Office would have filed
the criminal case. If Greer had offered the victim a settlement, long
before the civil case was filed, a civil case would have never been
filed.
Greer's
attorneys also argued on appeal that the trial judge's jury
instructions pertaining to Greer's refusal to answer questions based on
his right against self incrimination was improper. The trial judge
instructed the jury that they could make negative inferences against
Greer due to his failure to answer difficult questions on cross
examination. The Second Circuit listed the questions Greer refused to
answer: Greer refused to answer whether he "sexually abused and
assaulted other minors including Avi Hack" whether he "taught religious
and secular studies, communal service, ethics, theology and Jewish
history," whether he "forced EM to have sex with him when he was a child
at various locations in New Haven apartments he owned," whether "he had
molested EM in Greer's bedroom" whether he "had sex with EM at a motel
in Branford" whether he "forced EM to have sex with him at a motel in
Paoli" whether he forced EM to have sex with him when EM was a child at a
hotel in Philadelphia," whether he "had sex with EM when he was a child
at land in Hamden..."
Greer
was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration suspended after 12 after he
was convicted of child molestation. Greer is currently on home
confinement, after he was recently released due to COVID19 in the
prisons. Greer's case will be reviewed again on February 1, by Judge
Alander. Greer may or may not go back to jail. Eventually Greer will
have to go to jail and spend 12 years in the custody of the Department
of Corrections. Greer has already registered as a sex offender. Greer
is allowed to leave his abode in order to go to doctor appointments and
appointments with his attorney. A local recently told me that she saw
Greer driving around in his minivan in his Edgewood neighborhood. Greer
used to be known as the "Mayor of Edgewood." Greer is now known as
"The Pedophile of Edgewood."
Greer
was tried and incarcerated just before the pandemic. Greer has been in
and out of prison ever since, due to issues in the prison related to
the pandemic, and Greer's age. Greer is 80 years old. At one point
Greer's son Ezi Greer drove his father to the Superior Court to turn him
in to the Marshal. I was there and took pictures. I was shocked that
Ezi drove his father to the prison. During the civil trial an expert
testified that he had evidence that Ezi was molested by his father. Ezi
Greer was active in politics in New Haven for many years, along with
his brother Rabbi Dov Greer. Dov, Ezi and Avi Hack also helped run
Greer's yeshiva, where EM was enrolled. Avi Hack was also molested by
Greer. Avi, Dov and Ezi protected Daniel Greer for years while Greer
attracted minors to his yeshiva for the purposes of rape and abuse.
After "Rabbi" Greer was sued Dov moved to Long Island, Ezi moved to
Waterbury, and Avi moved to Providence RI. Avi's father Harold Hack,
who also protected Greer for year, also moved to Waterbury. Greer got
Harold a job at the City of New Haven. Harold's daughter is married to
Ezi Greer.
Ezi,
Avi, Dov and Harold refused to testify against Greer at Greer's civil
and criminal trials. I contacted numerous potential witnesses to
testify against Greer in the criminal trial. A few showed up and
testified against Greer. One testified that he was a classmate of EM at
the high school and that he suspected that EM was being molested by
Greer at the time he was in school. Another testified that Greer tried
to molest him. A few others wanted to testify but found it too
emotionally painful to show up in court and testify. I was surprised
that EM had the strength to testify at the civil trial and the criminal
trial. Greer's lawyer William Ward mercilessly attacked EM at the civil
trial, yelling at him calling him a "LIAR" and a "THIEF." Greer's
lawyer Willie the Dow at the criminal trial was more respectful and
didn't yell and scream at the victim. The Dow probably learned from
Ward's mistake, attacking the victim, victim blaming, did not work out
very well for Ward.
