A Powerful Rabbi Could Help Carl Miller Clear His Name. But He Refuses to Show Up to Court.

After spending 30 years in prison for a murder he swears he didn't commit, and another 15 years fighting to prove his innocence, Carl Miller sat in a packed Brooklyn courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, waiting for a man who could help clear his name for good.

Miller, a Black man, was convicted of killing Rabbi Dovid Okunov, a prominent Russian Jewish leader in exile, in Crown Heights on the morning of October 25, 1979. The murder—one gunshot to the rabbi's head—shook the city and spurred more than a thousand members of the Hasidic community to march through the area in mourning that same day.

There were several eyewitness accounts. One of them, from Miller's former friend, was largely responsible for his conviction. Another came from a retired dressmaker, who testified in Miller's defense. A third eyewitness, Chanina Sperlin, was 16 years old when he claimed to have seen a man running from the crime scene with the rabbi's prayer bag. Back then, Sperlin did not identify Miller as the killer. 

Sperlin, who has since grown up to be a rabbi and a powerful player in New York City politics, was expected to appear at this exoneration hearing—to shed light on what actually happened that day, and to potentially lift a terrible burden from a man who has always maintained his innocence.

But he never showed up. The rabbi and his attorney, Levi Huebner, have repeatedly refused to come to court, dodging multiple letters, subpoenas and warnings, and frustrating Brooklyn State Supreme Court Judge Guy Mangano Jr.

At Tuesday's hearing, Miller's attorney, James Henning, told Judge Mangano that his months of attempts to get Rabbi Sperlin to comply with court orders had been fruitless. In January, Henning said, when Sperlin was served with a subpoena, "Mr. Sperlin crumpled up the subpoena and threw it at my process-server on camera."

"This conduct is unacceptable," Judge Mangano said, after noting that he himself has tried and failed to compel Sperlin's appearance. "I believe this is an eyewitness that is necessary for the defendant to potentially meet his burden of proof…. and he basically told the court to 'stick it' when we told him to show up today."