The admission by Lemrick Nelson’s lawyers that Nelson did, in fact, stab Yankel Rosenbaum is but the latest strategy in the killer’s quest to escape justice for one of the most notorious slayings in the city’s history. It took place during the anti-Jewish rioting in Crown Heights in the summer of 1991. The admission that Nelson stabbed the chasidic scholar from Australia came on the opening day of his re-trial in Brooklyn on federal charges in the case. In the original state murder trial, the jury nullified the evidence and acquitted Nelson. He was later convicted in federal court, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. Now his lawyers are saying Nelson stabbed Yankel to death not because Yankel was a Jew but because Nelson had been drinking beer.

In the years since the killing, the communities of Crown Height have been to reach out to one another. No small amount of progress has been made. That progress and the Jews of Crown Heights themselves are mocked by the defense strategy Nelson offered in court yesterday.

This will be widely recognized, as it was byYankel’s brother, Norman, who for more than a decade has demonstrated an inspiring commitment to seeing justice done for the killing of his brother. Norman is quoted by our Jacob Gershman today as saying that he was relieved to hear Mr. Nelson’s defense team admit that Nelson wielded the knife.” It was refreshing to hear the admission of Nelson’s counsel,” Mr. Rosenbaum said.” That’s against the background of denying it fervently, of accusing the police of a setup, and in the sentencing in federal court he protested he was a scapegoat.” Norman Rosenbaum said: “Lemrick Nelson is a liar. It’s been lie after lie. He stabbed Yankel because he was a Jew.”

Whether the killer’s latest defense strategy will be enough to get him off yet again is something we will know soon enough. But it’s not too soon to say that this re-trial is a test of New Yorkers themselves. The United States made it clear yesterday that it comprehends what happened back in 1991. The prosecutor who speaks for America, Lauren Resnick, told the jury that Yankel was killed “not because of anything he’d done, but because of who he was — an Orthodox Jew.”

The trial that resulted in the acquittal in 1992 tarnished the good name of New York City. After the acquittal, some jurors reportedly took the killer out to dinner. No doubt there have been those who, over the past decade, have been tempted from time to time over the years to put an arm around Norman Rosenbaum, or the prosecutors, and suggest they give it up. But Yankel’s family and American government have put their faith in the ability of the New Yorkers to sort all this out through the jury system that will hear this case one last time.