Chambers Gets More Time in Drug Case Than as 'Preppy Killer'
Now 41, Robert Chambers Jr. became notorious decades ago. His murder trial and manslaughter plea, for what he claimed was the accidental strangulation of a young woman in 1986 during a night of “rough sex” in Central Park, electrified New York.
Their shared prep school background and youthful good looks captured public attention—she, at 18, was a graduate of the prestigious Baldwin School and he, according to a prosecutor in his murder trial, was expelled from the elite Browning School for stealing a wallet—and Chambers was dubbed the “preppy killer.” Only 19 at the time of Jennifer Levin’s death, he served 15 years for her killing, as the New York Daily News and New York Times recap.
Chambers is in the news again because he has again pleaded guilty and is now being sentenced, this time in a drug case. He was given a 19-year term for selling cocaine, crack and marijuana.
“He gets 19 years for dealing coke to drug addicts and 15 for strangling my daughter?” Steven Levin told the Daily News earlier, when the plea was announced. “That’s pretty unjust.”
Chambers was arrested in a police undercover operation after neighbors complained about the constant stream of strangers visiting Chambers and his companion and co-defendant in their doorman building, the Times reports. The drugs involved in the three-month sting reportedly had a street value of $20,000.
“That he’s gotten to the point of selling cocaine is not surprising to any of us who worked on the case,” Linda Fairstein, who prosecuted Chambers two decades ago, tells the Times. “But it is shocking in light of the opportunities that he was given to get away from his drug problems.”
Chambers’ companion reportedly got no prison time and is being required to undergo drug rehabilitation.
Earlier coverage:
Times Topics: “Robert E. Chambers Jr.”
ABAJournal.com: “‘Preppy Killer’ Can’t Afford Lawyer for New Charges”
