Wife charged in lighter fluid case guilty of burglary

A Woodmere woman who was charged with dousing her estranged husband's home with lighter fluid pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree burglary charges.

Esther Hershko, 50, originally was charged with five counts of attempted murder after the June 2009 incident because there were five people inside the Heron Drive home - her estranged husband Itzhak Hershko, his girlfriend, their infant child, and two other relatives.

Police originally said Esther Hershko had doused the infant with lighter fluid, a claim that her lawyer disputed with reports from the state police forensics lab that showed no trace of lighter fluid on the baby's clothes or blanket.

"I don't think she was guilty of anything except for bad judgment," said her defense lawyer, Adrienne Flipse Hausch of Mineola.

The Nassau County district attorney's office declined to comment on the plea.

Hausch said Esther Hershko had gone to her husband's home to confront him over investments, and in the course of their fight she dumped lighter fluid in a puddle on the floor and left the house, where she was confronted by police and arrested.

Hershko is expected to serve 2 to 6 years in jail. Her sentencing is scheduled July 1.

"If she hadn't been in [jail] already for almost a year I would have advised her to go to trial," Hausch said. The plea allows Hershko to serve her time "and resume her life," she said.

A lawyer for Itzhak Hershko said his client was trusting the Nassau district attorney's discretion in the plea.

"This has been a real tragic case for him and his family," said Frank Perrone of Garden City, who represented Itzhak Hershko in a building violations case in Cedarhurst. "He left it up to the authorities and he trusts that they have done their job and justice will be served."