Court to lighten sentence for Beinisch shoe-thrower

Prosecution suggests original 3-year sentence may have been too strong for 52-year-old Pinchas Cohen who attacked Supreme Court president.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
shoe thrower 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
shoe thrower 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
After a hearing at Jerusalem District Court on Sunday it was decided, according to a proposal by the prosecution, that the court will decide a new, lighter punishment for Pinchas Cohen, who was indicted on suspicion of attacking Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch with his sneakers in January.
A prosecution representative for Cohen admitted that a lighter sentence would have been enough.
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In June Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison.
Lawyer Yuval Kaplinsky said  procedures have been put in place, in conjunction with the court, to lighten the sentence.
In January the 52-year-old Jerusalem resident apparently threw two of his sneakers at the chief justice as she presided over a court hearing, striking her in the face with the first shoe and knocking her off her chair as the second whizzed past.
Cohen was arrested directly after the incident.
Beinisch, who returned to work about an hour-and-a-half later, was shaken up and slightly bruised in the incident, which broke her glasses and sparked chaos in the courtroom and outer foyer of the High Court building, which is located in the capital's government quarter.
According to police, Cohen has a record for past threats, including those made against his lawyer Ariel Rozenblatt and Family Court Judge Phillip Marcus during a 2006 court case, for which he was arrested.