A New York podiatrist tried to have his wife killed again just a few years on from his first murder plot being foiled.
Ira Bernstein spent four years behind bars after plotting to kill his ex-wife Susan in 2017 but he clearly didn't learn his lesson, as he pled guilty once again this week to tampering with evidence in connection to a second murder-for-hire bid.
According to the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, Bernstein tried to kill his wife again just one year after his release from prison in 2021, this time asking a landscaper to kill Susan before attempting to get documents destroyed.
The pair were married in 2001 but things were rocky throughout and while they share children together, they eventually divorced in 2016, with Susan also filing for a restraining order against her ex-husband.
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After he was found guilty in 2017, he appeared tearful and remorse in court at his sentencing, but his ex-wife wasn't buying it.
He said that he was 'humiliated, humbled and frankly embarrassed,' and said he would be a 'compassionate and good-hearted man in the future' as he faced the woman he'd tried to have killed in court.
“To Susan, we had a very stressful marriage, but no matter what happened there is no justification for entering into a conspiracy to have you murdered,” he added.
However, she took the opportunity to blast him for all his wrongdoings, describing him as 'evil', and a 'deadbeat dad' who lived in luxury while his children's lives suffered.
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She said: “He hasn’t paid a penny of support money to me or the children for almost five months since he pled guilty in January.
“While we are living in a hell, a constant state of crisis, Ira has been living with Kelly in the luxurious Montebello Pines and supporting his high-flying lifestyle.
“He has the money. But won’t even pay for my children’s therapist to help them heal from the damage he permanently caused.”
Prosecutors suggest that Bernstein and his new partner Kelly Gribeluk paid $100,000 to a killer for hire for them to kill Susan, but were promptly turned in by the prospective hitman.
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And in 2023, Susan filed another official civil lawsuit and Bernstein pled guilty once again earlier this week, with reports suggesting he could face anywhere between one and a half to three years in jail when he is sentenced in December.
His sister Jaclyn Goldberg has also been accused of helping him to tamper the evidence, although she could see charges against her dropped in six months depending on good behaviour.
Crimes such as this are unfortunately all too common, with one husband in US charged with a double murder after a bizarre love triangle case, while a doctor in Hawaii was accused of trying to push his wife of a cliff.
James Moorhouse