'Preppie Killer' Back Behind Bars

[Steff]

POSTED: 7:37 am EST November 24, 2004

UPDATED: 12:25 pm EST November 24, 2004

 

NEW YORK -- Robert Chambers, the so-called "Preppie Killer" who was released from state prison last year, was freed on $1,000 bail Wednesday after being arraigned on charges of driving with a suspended license and possession of crack.

 

 

Chambers, 38, was arrested after he was stopped Tuesday around 7:15 p.m. at 140th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. He was charged with two misdemeanors, seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance and third-degree unlicensed driving.

 

The complaint filed against him in Manhattan Criminal Court says a computer check by police found that Chambers' license was suspended in May after he failed to answer a summons for running a red light.

 

The complaint also says police recovered two straws and a tinfoil packet, all containing crack cocaine residue, in the back seat of Chambers' car.

 

Assistant District Attorney Jason Berland said the defendant made several statements to arresting officers, including, "My car is not inspected;" "My friend gave me candy;" and "These pills are for getting me off dope."

 

Judge Kathryn Freed set bail at $1,000 and ordered Chambers to return to court Monday for a hearing.

 

Chambers, his tall frame much thinner than when he was tried for murder in 1988, fled the courthouse after his arraignment and hurriedly walked with his lawyer, Brian O'Dwyer, to his office three blocks away.

 

O'Dwyer said Chambers, who lives in Manhattan and works in retail outside the city, had no idea why police stopped him when they did. The lawyer refused to comment on the crack cocaine allegation against his client.

 

"We would just ask everybody to suspend judgment until we find out what happened," O'Dwyer said.

 

Chambers confessed in 1988 to strangling 18-year-old Jennifer Levin two years earlier during a tryst in Central Park. After a jury deliberated more than a week on a murder charge against Chambers, he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

 

He served 15 years in prison and was released from the Auburn Correctional Facility on Valentine's Day 2003.

 

Chambers racked up a number of violations behind bars, including heroin possession, assaulting a guard and weapon possession. He spent a third of his time in solitary confinement and was rejected for parole five times.