Baltimore Brothers Face 13 Years for Assaulting Black Teen

Brothers Eliyahu and Avi Werdeseheim are being charged with second-degree assault, false imprisonment and carrying a deadly weapon in the beating of a black teenager they are alleged to have attacked while patrolling an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood as part of the Shomrim of Baltimore, Maryland.

The prosecution alleges that in November 2010, the boys surrounded a 15 year old boy, threw him to the ground, beat him with a hand-held radio, and patted him down.

The Werdeseheims claim they were acting in self-defense, and that the teen was holding a nail-studded board.  They have pled not guilty.

The brothers face up to 13 years in prison if convicted on all three counts.