Legal Commentary

Late Night: Broken Glass

By Jeralyn

New York State Senator and former police officer Hiram Monserrate, a Demcorat recently sworn in to his first term, was indicted by a grand jury today on several felony and misdemeanor charges for cutting his girlfriend's eye with a drinking glass.

Monserrate insists the prosecution is politically motivated and it was an accident...he tripped. Karla Giraldo, his girlfriend, first said Monserrate was beating her. Now she agrees with his accident defense and wants the charges dropped.

How will they present the case without her cooperative testimony? Through the security camera at his apartment which captured him dragging her out the door and her banging on the neighbor's door. The neighbor heard a lot of screaming...which she says wasn't unusual. [More...]

This is also interesting, from the Times article:

A former Marine, Mr. Monserrate served 12 years in the New York Police Department before getting a psychological disability pension in 2000. The cause for his claim was not known and he has declined to discuss it.

As the DA's press release (pdf) says, "An indictment is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty." That said, I don't see how it's a political prosecution, given this from the Daily News article:

Giraldo at first told a doctor at Long Island Jewish Medical Center that Monserrate beat her, but then changed her story. She wants prosecutors to drop assault charges... Emergency room doctor Dawne Kort told Queens prosecutors on Tuesday that Giraldo accused Monserrate of bashing her in the face, sources said.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).