Ruthann Aron (née Greenzweig; born October 24, 1942), now known as Ruth Ann Green, is an American

felon A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

, former

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and former real estate developer who ran unsuccessfully for the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nomination in the 1994 United States Senate election in Maryland. She was arrested in 1997 for hiring a

hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

to murder her ex-husband, Barry Aron.

Career

Ruthann Aron was born Ruthann Greenzweig in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. After graduating from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, she moved to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

with her husband and two young children, acquired a law degree at

Catholic University Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...

and became a real estate developer. Aron completed several big deals and became a member of the Montgomery County Planning Board. In 1994, she lost Maryland's

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

nomination to former

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Senator

Bill Brock William Emerson Brock III (November 23, 1930 – March 25, 2021) was an American Republican politician who served in both chambers of the United States Congress from 1963 to 1977 and later in the United States Cabinet from 1981 to 1987. He was ...

, who was in turn defeated by Democratic incumbent

Paul Sarbanes Paul Spyros Sarbanes (; February 3, 1933 – December 6, 2020) was an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party from Maryland, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 a ...

. After Brock lost to Sarbanes, Aron sued Brock for

slander Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

based on comments he made about her implying that she had been criminally convicted of

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

during her business career. In reality, juries had ruled against Aron in two

civil lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

s in which former business partners accused her of fraud or other offenses. A federal judge overturned one of the verdicts, and Aron

settled A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

both suits out of court after agreeing to pay about $175,000 in each case. At the slander trial, Aron cited Brock's use of the term "convicted" for verdicts that had come in civil court. Lawyer Arthur G. Kahn, who had prosecuted one of the fraud cases, testified against Aron at the February 1996 trial, which Aron lost. Nonetheless, it was the first time that a losing federal candidate was able to get the winner into court over words spoken in a campaign.

Contract killings

Aron was arrested in June 1997 for trying to hire a hitman; she had approached William "Billy" Mossberg, a local landfill owner, who immediately went to the police. Secretly working with investigators, Mossberg met with Aron and agreed to murder her husband and Kahn. At the time of her arrest, Aron was planning to run, as a Democrat, for an at-large seat on the Montgomery County Council. She was removed from the Planning Board two months after her arrest. In Aron's first trial, she used nine

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

es to argue that a

brain injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, or o ...

and

childhood abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to ac ...

had rendered her incapable of realizing that what she was doing was illegal. She was diagnosed as having

borderline personality disorder Borderline personality disorder (BPD), also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD), is a personality disorder characterized by a long-term pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, distorted sense of self, and strong ...

by multiple psychiatrists. One juror held out on her behalf, and a

mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

was declared. In July 1998, Aron pleaded

no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal Trial (law), trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the def ...

, and in November 1998 she was sentenced to two consecutive 18-month prison sentences.

Aftermath

Aron's son, Joshua, was an employee at

Cantor Fitzgerald Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. is an American financial services firm that was founded in 1945. It specializes in institutional equity, fixed income sales and trading, and serving the middle market with investment banking services, prime brokerage, an ...

's offices at the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

and was killed in the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Suicide attack, suicide List of terrorist incidents, terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, ...

. Her daughter, Dana Aron Weiner, is a psychologist who works at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. At Aron's trial, Weiner pleaded for

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

on her mother's behalf. Aron was still living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

as of September 2011. In 2004, Aron's case was profiled on the

Oxygen Network Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primar ...

series ''

Snapped ''Snapped'' is an American true crime television series produced by Jupiter Entertainment. The series depicts high profile or bizarre cases of women accused of murder. Each episode outlines the motivation for murder, whether it be revenge agains ...

'', which profiles female criminals, and also on the

truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...

series ''

Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice ''Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice'' is an American crime TV series that examined real-life cases of crime, passion, and greed involving privileged or famous people. The episodes were shown on truTV (formerly Court TV) and on Star T ...

''. In 2006, her case was profiled in an episode of A&E's ''

City Confidential ''City Confidential'' is an American documentary television show, originally transmitted on the A&E Network, which singled out a community during each episode and investigated a crime that had occurred there. Rather than being a straightforward ...

''.

Personal life

It was reported in May 2016 that Aron is going by the name Ruth Ann Green and living in Montgomery County, Maryland, and in Palm Beach

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. She has

self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pri ...

an autobiography claiming her innocence on the charges on which she was convicted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aron, Ruthann 1942 births 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Candidates in the 1994 United States elections Cornell University alumni Maryland Democrats Maryland politicians convicted of crimes Maryland Republicans People convicted of soliciting murder People from Montgomery County, Maryland People with borderline personality disorder Politicians from Brooklyn Wealth in the United States Women in Maryland politics Living people 21st-century American women