Steven Hirsch
Michael James, 53, (left) in court with his lawyer. James, accused of breaking into the Anne Frank Center, convinced a jury he just wanted to check out Holocaust artifacts.
The trial of a career thief accused of burglarizing the Anne Frank Center ended in deadlock today, with nearly the entire jury believing that he could have gone inside the downtown museum simply to peruse the Holocaust artifacts.
Prosecutors had been barred from prejudicing the jurors by telling them about the 30 theft and drug sale arrests on the rap sheet of Michael James, 53 — or about his three prison stints for burglary, robbery and possessing stolen goods.
"That would have been hard for us to ignore," one female juror noted of James' record.
"I just thank God that enough things worked out the way they worked out," James said as he left court. He must return next month for a possible retrial.
James admits having gone inside the Park Place center 15 minutes before it opened one February morning last year, as confirmed by his fingerprints and video showing him easing the unlocked front door quietly closed behind him.
He was also identified by the center's Dutch-born executive director, Yvonne Simons, who told jurors of seeing him run out of her office. "I'm a messenger," she testified he told her.
Simmons quickly realized her wallet was missing from her office chair, and three of her five credit cards were used to buy Metrocards later that day, according to testimony.
Still, none of the jurors found solid proof that James intended to do anything criminal when he entered the center, and only two jurors believed he intended to steal something when he entered Simons' office, which was located behind a full-scale recreation of Anne Frank's bedroom.
"He should get judged factually based on what the evidence is in this case only," defense lawyer Eugene Nathanson said afterward of the jurors not knowing his client's lengthy record.
"A person is not guilty just because they've been guilty in the past."
Victory for veteran thief: Jury deadlocks on Holocaust center break-in
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Victory for veteran thief: Jury deadlocks on Holocaust center break-in
