Content warning: This article contains mention of sexual assault.
A Manhattan judge reduced counts against a Gallatin student facing strangulation and sexual assault allegations, instead charging him with criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation and third-degree assault during a Wednesday hearing.
Abraham Chabon returned to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse with his parents — both of whom are prominent authors — over one month after a judge postponed his hearing so he could plead guilty to the restructured charges. On Wednesday morning, prosecutors agreed to drop the top charge — second-degree strangulation, a felony — and instead proceed with criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation, also adding third-degree assault: both misdemeanors under New York state law.
The added charge was based on allegations that Chabon choked and hit a woman in the face while sexually assaulting her inside an East 12th Street building, causing her “stupor and loss of vision in one eye” and bruising on her neck and face. Chabon, who concentrates in “Long-form Conflict and Investigative Journalism,” is still enrolled at the university according to NYU Home. An NYU spokesperson did not respond to WSN’s request for comment.
One of Chabon’s attorneys, Isabelle Kirshner, also discussed conditions for his release with the judge and Deputy Bureau Chief of the Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Bureau Kaitlyn Flatley. Although no final disposition was reached at the hearing, the judge approved a follow-up court date of June 9.
Chabon was first arrested last June for first-degree rape and second-degree strangulation charges from January 2024. After he pleaded not guilty to both accounts and a judge released him on a $45,000 cash bail, the prosecutors dismissed the rape charges in September due to insufficient evidence.
Chabon’s father, Pulitzer Prize-winning Michael Chabon, authored “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” among other well-known novels including “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh” and “Wonder Boys.” His mother, Ayelet Waldman, is also popular for her series “The Mommy-Track Mysteries” and other published works.
Contact Selin Kemiktarak at [email protected].
Steve • Apr 12, 2026 at 5:23 pm
So he nearly choked her to death but she agreed to consensual sex? Money has its own course of justice I guess.
Lux • Mar 26, 2026 at 11:56 am
Maybe the sexual assault should be mentioned in the headline? That is the whole point of the case. Another disappointing case of some privileged boy getting away with rape.