83-Year-Old Mounts Quixotic Fight To Clear Name In 1968 Murder Of Jewish Partner

By Dave Goldiner November 5, 2017

Sam Sommer was accused, tried and convicted of the 1968 murder of his former business partner, who was found dead on a Long Island street.

Prosecutors and a jury agreed Irving Silver was killed by Sommer to win a lucrative insurance policy and for other financial reasons related to their rocky business partnership.

Sommer served 20 years in prison, was eventually freed — and now is living out his years in upstate New York.

End of the story? Nope.

Unlike most inmates who protest their innocence, Sommer has continued his quixotic campaign after his release and still hopes for a new trial, according to the New York Times.

He says prosecutors beat him into confessing that he bludgeoned Silver, who is an uncle of his late wife, with a pipe before running him over and fleeing the scene. A new appeal — the latest of many — is making its way through the court system.

“I’d like to clear my name at trial,” he told the Times. “If they want to settle, the only way I’ll accept money is if they write the reason on the face of the check.”

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at goldiner@forward.com, or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

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