NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Lauren Pazienza, the 27-year-old woman facing manslaughter and assault charges in the fatal shoving of an 87-year-old voice coach in Manhattan earlier this year, rejected a plea deal that could have landed her in prison for more than a decade.
LISTEN TO WCBS 880
Pazienza returned Tuesday to court, where prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office offered her 15 years in prison and five years post-release supervision in exchange for a guilty plea to the top first-degree manslaughter charge, according to PIX11.
Pazienza—who has been detained at Rikers Island since a judge deemed her a “serious flight risk” in early May and revoked her $500,000 bail—rejected the deal and has pleaded not guilty. She faces up to 25 years behind bars if convicted of the manslaughter charge and also faces a charge of second-degree assault.
Pazienza’s attorney Arthur Aidala told the New York Post on Tuesday that his client, who was an event planner from an affluent family, is “hanging in there.”
“I don’t think anyone in Rikers is looking forward to the heat wave, whether it’s the correction officers or inmates,” Aidala said, referring to the scorching temps that will grip the city until next week.
Aidala said he and his client were “disappointed” after a judge refused to throw out the manslaughter charge.
“We feel that pushing someone one time, not knowing their age or any disability rises to the level to satisfy the elements of manslaughter in the first degree,” he said. “We will keep pursuing justice the best we can.”
Pazienza is due back in court Sept. 14.
Pazienza is accused of pushing Barbara Maier Gustern to the ground in a fatal, unprovoked street attack in Chelsea on March 10.
According to prosecutors, Pazienza had several “several glasses of wine” with her fiancé that night, as the two toured art galleries and celebrated their upcoming wedding.
The couple was eating at Chelsea Park when a city Parks Department employee asked them to leave. "The defendant became angry, started cursing at the park employee, threw her food on to her fiancé," said assistant D.A. Justin McNabney at her May 10 arraignment.
Prosecutors said Pazienza crossed W. 28th Street, near Eighth Avenue, around 8:30 p.m. and shouted obscenities at Gustern before shoving her to the ground. The two did not know each other.
Gustern fell and hit her head, causing massive hemorrhage to the left side of her brain. Pazienza walked away, leaving the octogenarian on the ground bleeding, prosecutors allege.
Gustern, whose clients included celebrities like Debbie Harry of Blondie, died at a hospital five days later on March 15 after she was removed from life support.
Prosecutors allege Pazienza stayed in the area of the attack for 20 minutes and that video footage shows her in a “physical altercation” with her fiancé as the ambulance arrived.
Pazienza then took the subway back to the couple’s apartment in Astoria and admitted to her fiancé later that night that she pushed Gustern, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege Pazienza tried to avoid being captured by deleting her social media accounts and wedding registry. She went to her parents' home in Suffolk County on March 16 but ultimately surrendered to the NYPD on March 22.
Related
Related
Related
