The Killing of Lisa Steinberg

After the closing arguments, anticipation was high that Steinberg would be convicted on all counts. The jury received the case for deliberations on January 23, 1989 and for the next eight days; the jury contemplated the fate of Joel Steinberg while an entire city awaited the outcome. Jurors asked to review testimony of several witnesses including Dr. Neil Spiegel who examined Hedda Nussbaum on the night of November 3, 1987. His description of Nussbaum, who he said resembled "an old person who had cancer," was pivotal in determining if she was capable of inflicting the type of head trauma Lisa sustained. 

On January 30, the jury was done. Steinberg stood behind the defense table with his lawyer as the verdict was read at 6:40 p.m. On the second degree murder charge, he was found "not guilty." On the first degree manslaughter charge, the verdict was "guilty." Steinberg shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and appeared angry, but he remained silent. Steinberg had escaped the most serious charge but he still faced decades in prison. He was led out of the room and remanded into custody until sentencing. After three-months, 52 witnesses, more than 100 exhibits and 6,000 pages of testimony, the trial was over.

Jurors later commented on the eight days of deliberations. Tempers flared as they struggled to reach a verdict. "We all became absolutely positive that Hedda couldn't do it," the jury foreman told the New York Times, "There was no way a person in her condition could strike this tremendous blow that killed Lisa." Although Nussbaum was the star witness and many considered her testimony devastating to Steinberg, the jury felt just the opposite. "Hedda's testimony we used practically not at all," another juror said. But there were disagreements as well. "It was rough," another juror said, "We were not near deadlock, but sometimes we were near exhaustion."

Not everyone was happy with the verdict. Michele Launders, Lisa's birthmother, ran from the courtroom in tears. She attended the three-month trial every day and always sat directly behind Joel Steinberg.  She once said that only a murder conviction could "give Lisa justice and let her rest in peace." And no matter Steinberg's fate, there remained the lingering belief that Hedda Nussbaum had escaped culpability. Her attorney, Barry Scheck, said that after the verdict Hedda "was upset and anxious and relieved that it's all over."

For television viewers, the trial was a resounding success, as the ratings indicated. Hedda's mangled face and battered appearance riveted viewers. Her testimony generated considerable public sympathy for Hedda and preserved her status as a victim. "The way she looked and spoke was more dramatic than Meryl Streep," a Columbia professor told reporters. On the other hand, Steinberg, whose dark appearance on TV reinforced his guilt, suffered from the presence of cameras. "It was unfortunate for Steinberg that he looks like evil," another professor said.

At his March 24, 1989, sentencing, Steinberg offered his version of  events. "At no point did I ever strike them in any form," he said of the children, "Those children were not locked in a house of horrors." He said that he and Lisa got along well and that he "had a consistently joyous, happy relationship with her." He pointed out that his only crime was an "error of judgment." As for his prosecution, Steinberg claimed that he was being treated unfairly. "It's not like a defendant who stands before you and perpetrates a crime on an outside victim," he said, "I'm the loss, the victim."

Judge Harold Rothwax disagreed and sentenced him to 8 1/3 to 25 years, the maximum.