Murder Conviction

After sitting in court every day for three weeks, listening to the gruesome details about her son's death, Carol Needleman didn't get the verdict she wanted. Corey Arthur, 20, was convicted Tuesday night of second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree robbery in the death of Jonathan Levin, the high school English teacher whom he befriended and then killed for money. "I'm not happy about this. Jon would not have been happy with this verdict," she said. Arthur was acquitted of first-degree murder, which would have carried a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison when State Supreme Court Justice Marcy Kahn sentences him on Dec. 10. Arthur dropped his head to his chest when the verdict was read after two days of deliberations. A young woman, identified as Arthur's current girlfriend, let out a loud wail and began sobbing. Arthur and Montoun Hart were charged with the May 30, 1997, murder and robbery of Levin, 31, a popular teacher at Taft High School in the Bronx and the son of Time Warner Inc. Chairman Gerald Levin. Hart, 26, will be tried in January. Prosecutors said the two bound and gagged Levin with duct tape, slashed and stabbed him to make him divulge his automatic teller machine number, and then shot him in the head with a .22-caliber pistol that was never found. They allegedly used Levin's bank card to withdraw $800 from his bank account. Levin's bloodied and decomposing body was found June 3 after colleagues, worried that he had missed a faculty meeting and a later social gathering, went to his apartment and summoned police. Police arrested Arthur about a week later after he telephoned somebody with a caller I.D. box. The person, who was not identified, then called police and gave them the telephone number of where Arthur was hiding. Defense attorney Anthony Ricco said the verdict was both a victory and a tragedy. It was a victory because Arthur was not convicted of first-degree murder and a tragedy because Levin, "a beautiful person, lost his life," Ricco said.