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Jewish News 24 · Aug 5, 2026

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Federal prosecutors have formally acknowledged for the first time that the 1994 murder of Jewish teenager Ari Halberstam would be prosecuted as a federal hate crime if it occurred today, saying modern civil rights laws now provide legal tools that did not exist when the gunman was convicted in state court. The acknowledgment came in a July 23 letter from U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to Halberstam's mother, Devorah Halberstam, following a meeting earlier this summer. Clayton wrote that there was "no question" federal prosecutors would investigate the killing as a hate crime under current law and would also pursue federal charges for the attempted murders of the other teenagers wounded in the Brooklyn Bridge attack.

Federal prosecutors have formally acknowledged for the first time that the 1994 murder of Jewish teenager Ari Halberstam would be prosecuted as a federal hate crime if it occurred today, saying modern civil rights laws now provide legal tools that did not exist when the gunman was convicted in state court. The acknowledgment came in a July 23 letter from U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to Halberstam's mother, Devorah Halberstam, following a meeting earlier this summer. Clayton wrote that there was "no question" federal prosecutors would investigate the killing as a hate crime under current law and would also pursue federal charges for the attempted murders of the other teenagers wounded in the Brooklyn Bridge attack.

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