Defendant Pleads Guilty to Reduced Charge in ‘Preppie’ Murder Case

A prep school graduate accused of strangling a young woman in Central Park pleaded guilty Friday to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter in a plea bargain that ended his 3-month murder trial.

The confessed killer, Robert Chambers, 21, sat silently with his eyes downcast as his lawyer entered the guilty plea in the hushed but packed Manhattan courtroom.

As part of the agreement presented to state Supreme Court Justice Howard Bell, Chambers also pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree burglary from an unrelated case.

The guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter came on the ninth day of jury deliberations in the trial of Chambers, who had been charged with second-degree murder in the 1986 death of Jennifer Levin, 18.

Accused of Strangling

The young prep school graduate was accused of intentionally strangling Levin during a fierce struggle in the crab apple grove behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park at dawn on Aug, 26, 1986.

Chambers admitted killing Levin, also a prep school graduate, but claimed in a videotaped statement that he accidentally choked her when she hurt him during rough sex.

Defense attorney Jack Litman asked that Chambers, a former altar boy who once attended a number of exclusive schools in the New York area, be sentenced to five to 15 years.

The first-degree manslaughter conviction carries a sentence ranging from a minimum of two to six years to a maximum of 8 to 25 years in prison. The burglary charge carries a minimum penalty of probation and a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

Faced Life Term

Chambers was indicted on two counts of second-degree murder--intentional murder and depraved indifference to human life--for which he had faced a minimum of 15 years in jail and a maximum of 25 years to life imprisonment if convicted.

The plea bargain was struck as reports surfaced that the jury of four women and eight men had deadlocked and another trial would be necessary.

The agreement angered the Levin family.

“I feel sick about the whole thing,” said Arnold Domenitz, 72, the victim’s paternal grandfather. “This is not justice.”

Feminists’ Ire Aroused

The case drew national attention to the fast life of the privileged prep school set on Manhattan’s fashionable Upper East Side.

The so-called “preppie murder” case also aroused the ire of feminists and victims’ rights advocates who accused Chambers of blaming the victim for her own death.

Chambers’ estranged parents, Phyllis and Robert Sr., looked ashen as they walked into the courtroom. One of the Chambers’ friends walked over to the Levin family and whispered quietly into the ear of the victim’s mother, Ellen, and patted her hand.

Chambers’ girlfriend, Shawn Kovell, whom he began dating after the killing, sat quietly in the audience as the plea agreement was announced.

30 Witnesses

The deal ended the 3-month trial in which 30 witnesses testified--25 for the prosecution and five for the defense. Evidence included 200 exhibits, including photographs of Levin’s bruised, nearly nude body.

With the plea bargain, the jury was never allowed to decide who was telling the truth in the case.

Prosecutors said Chambers fashioned a noose out of the young woman’s white tank top and repeatedly strangled her for several minutes as she desperately fought for her life.

They charged that she scratched his face, chest, and stomach and bit his hands during the struggle.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Linda Fairstein said in her summation that Chambers and Levin argued in a fight “that escalated and became physical.”

“Whatever the exact words are that triggered the fight only two human beings know, whether she wanted a sexual liaison and he didn’t, whether he couldn’t perform because he had too many shots of tequila and beers,” she said.

Self-Defense Claimed

The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Chambers said in a graphic videotaped confession that Levin tied his hands behind his back with her panties and “molested” him, squeezing his testicles and digging her nails into him.

The young man said he reached up and grabbed her around the neck with his left arm and threw her off to stop her from hurting him.

Chambers, a college dropout with a history of drug abuse who has been free on $157,500 bail, insisted that Levin scratched his face and bit his hands when he told her he wasn’t interested in dating her.

Besides the second-degree murder charges against Chambers, the jury was allowed to consider lesser charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Chambers also was charged in an unrelated case with three counts of second-degree burglary. He allegedly joined a convicted felon in committing three burglaries in September, 1985, in Upper East Side penthouses, stealing more than $70,000 in jewelry, furs and other property to support his cocaine habit.