WEST PALM BEACH — A 77-year-old man who shot a dog walker in the ankle and beat him with a golf club at their senior community near Delray Beach overcame the worst of three criminal charges against him Thursday.
Jurors acquitted Robert Levine of aggravated battery with a firearm and discharging a firearm in public, sparing him from a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years in prison. Convicted only of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon — a bloodied golf club — he scores closer to two years in prison but could avoid it altogether.
Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss will decide Levine’s sentence on March 27.
In a statement released Friday, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office said its prosecutors “obtained justice for the victim” and thanked the Sheriff’s Office for its help with the case.
“The jury returned the verdict after more than six hours of deliberations over two days. We thank the jurors for their careful consideration of the case,” the statement said. “This type of violence is unacceptable anywhere, especially in a community where seniors expect to feel safe.”
Described by witnesses as unprovoked assailant, golfer said he was victim of an antisemitic attack
Levine, a retired financial analyst from New York, told jurors he feared for his life when he encountered 64-year-old Herbert Merritt on April 24, 2022, leaving him “no reasonable choice but to shoot.”
His testimony painted a different picture than the one attested to by witnesses and recorded in his arrest report. According to Levine, he was approaching the course’s 14th green on a golf cart when Merritt crossed his path walking a dog.
Levine said he warned Merritt several times that he was not allowed to walk a dog on the course. When Merritt purportedly ignored him, Levine said he called him a “schmuck” — a Yiddish term that Levine said he believes betrayed the fact that he is an Orthodox Jew.
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Contrary to Merritt’s testimony, Levine said Merritt called him a “Jew bastard” in response, an accusation Merritt denied Friday. Levine said the slur made him believe he was about to be the victim of a violent antisemitic attack.
“To do nothing would have resulted in serious injury or death to Levine,” said defense attorney Robert Gershman.
Instead, Levine drove to Merritt on his golf cart. Gershman said that as soon as Levine stopped the cart, Merritt reached into Levine’s golf bag, grabbed a club and began to swing it at Levine’s head.
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Gershman said Levine tried to deflect the blow with his own golf club, then grabbed his semiautomatic handgun and fired warning shots into the ground.
“Merritt went down,” the attorney continued. “It appears that a ricochet fragment had hit his ankle. Levine breathed a sigh of relief and called 911.”
Witnesses: Golfer shot victim while he fled and beat him while he bled
Merritt, now 67, disagreed. He said he was walking his 14-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Annie, in the grass next to the course when he noticed Levine using a golf club too powerful for the shot he had to make.
Merritt said he remarked on Levine’s choice, prompting Levine to approach him on his golf cart and begin arguing about Annie’s proximity to the course. Merritt said Levine then pulled a handgun and aimed it at him.
Merritt began to run.
One witness, roused from bed by the sound of gunfire, said she saw Levine chase Merritt around a tree while shooting, striking him once in the left ankle. She and a man who watched from a nearby balcony said that after shooting Merritt, Levine retrieved a club from his golf cart and began striking Merritt while he sat bleeding, Annie’s leash still in his hand.
The leg of Herbert Merritt, who was shot in the ankle at a golf course at Kings Point on April 24, 2022.
Deputies said they found four shell casings on the ground and two bloody golf clubs. They charged Levine with attempted murder, a first-degree felony for which he could have been sentenced to life in prison had prosecutors tried to convict him of it.
Gershman said Levine is grateful for the jury’s verdict and hopeful he’ll receive a fair sentence. He theorized that Levine’s belief that he was the target of antisemitic violence, combined with the many physical maladies that Levine said prevent him from acting how Merritt and the witnesses described, helped convince the jury that he acted in self-defense.
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“The biggest challenge for us was having a surviving victim being wheeled in in a wheelchair, testifying from the wheelchair with accompanying photographs of him being shot in the ankle, testifying to his multiple surgeries,” Gershman said.
When reached Friday, Merritt said he didn’t know Levine was Jewish. He added that he did not feel justice was served.
“I can’t walk anymore. I can’t play golf,” said Merritt, who said he had a 4 handicap prior to the shooting. “I gave up my car. I can’t go anywhere.”
Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Kings Point golfer who shot man, beat him with club, says he was victim
