Woodmere woman gets 2 to 6 years

A 50-year-old Woodmere woman will be sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison for breaking into the home of her estranged husband last June and pouring lighter fluid at the base of his baby's bassinet, officials said.

The woman, Esther Hershko, of Andover Lane, pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary on June 8, and Nassau County Court Judge William Donnino promised her a 2- to 6-year term when she is sentenced on July 1, according to the Nassau County district attorney's office.

Hershko was originally charged with five counts of attempted murder, and was facing 25 years in prison if the case were to go to trial and a jury find her guilty.

Although her attorney, Adrienne Hausch, called the charges "overblown from the beginning," she added that she just could not take her chances with a jury. "To an extent, under the circumstances, I thought it in her best interests to take a plea," Hausch said of Hershko. "I do not believe she should be exposed to a trial. In my opinion she's guilty of nothing but bad judgment. They should not have charged her in the first place."

According to prosecutors, Hershko broke into the home of her estranged husband, Itzhak Hershko, on Heron Drive in Woodmere at 4 a.m. on June 24, 2009, and sprayed the lighter fluid at the base of his infant's bassinet, according to Chris Munzing, a spokesman for District Attorney Kathleen Rice. Hershko was arrested a short time later, Munzing said. She was initially charged with five counts of attempted murder because there were five people in the home when she broke in — her estranged husband, his girlfriend, the infant and two other relatives. No one was injured.

Hausch said that Hershko was angry with her estranged husband over money issues and went to his house to confront him. She poured the lighter fluid on the floor of his home, but it was never ignited, officials said.

Hausch said that an allegation was made that Hershko had poured the lighter fluid over the baby, but a forensics report later disputed the claim. "It never happened," she said.

She said that her client found the lighter fluid in the back of the house, adding that it was only found sprayed in a large puddle in a hallway and on her shoes.

"[The police] took her estranged husband at his word and did not believe her word," said Hausch. "And now a warrant's out for his arrest."

Itzhak Hershko, from whom Esther had been separated for four years after constant fights over money and their children, is a commercial property owner in Cedarhurst who was sentenced in April to 30 days in jail and a $15,000 fine for a series of building code violations at 91 Carman Ave., officials said. He failed to appear in Cedarhurst Village Hall for his sentencing on April 14 and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, village officials said.

Esther Hershko, who has been in jail since her arrest a year ago, will receive credit for time served, Hausch said. "My client wants to put this behind her and get her life back again," she said. "... She has been a model inmate and [is] eligible for early release. She is such a delightful woman. It's such a shame."

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