Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 10, 1993 TAG: 9309100130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TRENTON, N.J. LENGTH: Medium
Sol Wachtler, once considered a brilliant jurist and a possible Republican gubernatorial candidate, apologized in court to his victims and his family.
"I don't blame anyone else for those misdeeds," he said softly, clasping his hands together. "My only hope now is to try to put my life back together and to try to make amends for what I've done."
Wachtler, 63, had admitted harassing Manhattan socialite Joy Silverman with hangup phone calls and threatening letters after she ended their four-year affair in September 1991. The 13-month campaign included a threat to kidnap Silverman's daughter and to make public embarrassing photos of Silverman and her new boyfriend. He also sent 14-year-old Jessica Silverman a sexually graphic note containing a condom.
Wachtler tried to avoid detection by disguising his voice and pretending to be a fictitious detective involved in blackmailing the 46-year-old Silverman.
"This is certainly, as I see it, a bizarre and aberrational case," U.S. District Judge Anne Thompson said before passing sentence.
"In many ways Judge Wachtler lived an exemplary life," Thompson said, but his behavior toward Silverman was "an expression of anger, intimidation and grotesque control."
Wachtler's attorneys and six defense psychiatrists claimed he suffered from manic depression exacerbated by heavy use of prescription drugs. A prosecution psychiatrist said Wachtler was merely lovesick.
by CNB