A plea deal has been reached today in a case involving antisemitic flyers distributed in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
A judge reduced more than 150 littering citations, totaling $50,000 in fines, against 46-year-old Jeremy Brokaw of Ohio to five counts.
David Heyman with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh tells KDKA Radio he reluctantly agrees it was likely the best outcome under the law.
“Littering is not a serious crime, but it is what he is guilty of,” said Heyman. “Currently, under Pennsylvania law the contents of the flyers played no role in the case and so we are lobbying in Harrisburg for Pennsylvania to adopt what other states have adopted which is laws prohibiting targeted harassment to the community.”
Brokaw was fined $300 per count, totaling $1,500 plus court costs.
Heyman called the plea deal a “victory for the community” because “if the goal was to intimate the community we think he achieved the absolute opposite, it united the community.”
