NY State Senate Dem Convicted of Assault, May Stay in Office

Get this man a Nobel Peace Prize.

State Sen. Hiram Monserrate was convicted of misdemeanor assault Thursday for attacking his girlfriend - but cleared of felony counts that would have forced him from office.

"Yes!" a Monserrate supporter yelled in the crowded and tense Queens courtroom when Supreme Court Justice William Erlbaum said the ex-cop had skated on the most serious charges.

Monserrate didn't betray a smile. He continued to look grim as the early jubilation of his supporters gave way to somber silence.

Outside, Monserrate stuck by his claim that the nasty gash prosecutors charged he left on girlfriend Karla Giraldo's face with a broken glass was the result of "a terrible accident."

Monserrate called Giraldo, who was not in the courtroom, "a person who I love."

"I have to live with that forever," he said. "There are no winners here today."

Although Monserrate faces a year in jail when he is sentenced Dec. 4, his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said he probably won't serve a day.

"On a reckless misdemeanor, first offense, he won't go to jail," the lawyer said.

Monserrate also may be able hang on to his Senate seat - a prospect that galled Councilman Eric Gioia, who was the first Democrat out of the gate demanding that Monserrate resign.

"There is no room in government or in the Democratic Party for people who commit such heinous crimes against women," he said. "Elected officials should rightfully be held to a higher standard."

Has Gioia ever heard of Ted Kennedy?

Previous on Monserrate.

Name That Party! NY State Senator Hit With Felony Assault Charges

You would figure somewhere in this 11-paragraph story they'd find room to identify the party he belongs to. Apparently for CBS2 the fact he's a Democrat isn't relevant.

New York state Sen. Hiram Monserrate was indicted Monday morning on a felony assault charge in Queens after allegedly attacking his girlfriend during an argument, CBS 2 has confirmed.

Monserrate, a former New York City councilman who was sworn into office as Senator in January despite the looming charge, will be arraigned later this week.

Monserrate was charged with assault and weapon possession after Karla Giraldo's face was slashed on Dec. 19 at his Queens home. Both Monserrate and Giraldo say the incident was an accident -- Monserrate told police that he tripped while holding a glass of water and that the glass accidentally hit her. The Queens district attorney's office said the case is pending.

But authorities say evidence, including surveillance videos, paints a more violent picture of a heated argument and a frightened, bleeding woman in distress. Investigators say Monserrate purposely smashed her face with broken glass in an apparent jealous rage.

The videos come from several cameras in the apartment building. The first shows the two arguing and Monserrate throwing a policeman's union card down a garbage chute, according to a law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

ABC7 doesn't find his part affiliation newsworthy either. To their credit, the New York Times identifies his party.

As the NY Post notes, Democrats thought so little of this brutal assault they rewarded this monster with a chairmanship.

Meanwhile, Monserrate was sworn in to office in January, part of an influx of new lawmakers who helped Democrats gain control of the Senate for the first time in four decades. He was also appointed chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee. Some lawmakers (read: Republicans) and women's groups criticized the decision to seat the freshman Democrat, saying he should not be sworn in until the criminal case was resolved.

Previously.

Savor the Change: NY Democrats Swear In State Senator Facing Charges for Brutally Assaulting Girlfriend

Nobody circles the wagons like Democrats when their own face criminal charges. Today the fine folks in Albany swore in as state senator Hiram "Jagged Edge" Monseratte, who celebrated the holidays by ripping his girlfriend's face open with broken glass. Nothing like being politically expedient when you have the opportunity to be in the majority.

Hiram Monserrate has been sworn in as a New York state senator. Authorities in New York City continue to investigate reports that he viciously attacked his girlfriend during an argument.

Monserrate, who took office Wednesday, vehemently denies the charges.

Both the former New York City councilman and his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, say her Dec. 19 injuries resulted from an accident.

Monserrate told police that he tripped and accidentally hit her with a glass of water.

Oh, sure. She tripped. According to an earlier report, this ACLU board member use a beer bottle, not a glass.

His weak argument that she tripped may be demolished entirely by the news he stars on video where he's dragging her out of the apartment by her hair. Good luck, Hiram!

A Queens state senator who denies beating his girlfriend was caught on security cameras dragging the scared, bleeding woman from his apartment, law enforcement sources told the Daily News.

Newly elected Sen. Hiram Monserrate "will be convicted by the security video" taken in the hallway and outside his Jackson Heights apartment after he allegedly slashed Karla Giraldo in a jealous rage, sources said.

"No one can look at the security video and think that this was an accident," said a law enforcement source who saw the footage. "The woman looks scared out of her mind and trying to get away from this guy."

The video shows Giraldo grabbing the apartment's front door as Monserrate tried to drag her out of the building, sources said.

Other video clips show Giraldo clutching a towel to her injured left eye and banging on the door of a neighbor's apartment for help, sources said.

That neighbor, Carolyn Loudon, 46, said Tuesday she heard Giraldo banging on her door but was too scared to open it.

She said she is used to noise coming from Monserrate's unit, but the ruckus was worse than usual on Dec. 19.

"It was frightening," Loudon said. "I heard screaming and then banging on the door."

Season's Beatings: Unhinged Democrat Edition

We played Name That Party the other day when New York Democrat Hiram Monserrate was busted for slashing his girlfriend in the face with a beer bottle. Well, it turns out the mere sight of another man's business card sent the loony liberal into a volcanic rage.

So nice to see these Democrats comporting themselves like adults.

State Sen.-elect Hiram Monserrate flew into a volcanic rage and attacked his girlfriend after seeing another man's business card in her purse, sources told The Post yesterday.

The law-enforcement sources also believe that the jealous Monserrate was so angry that he deliberately broke a glass into jagged pieces so he could slash Karla Giraldo, who required 20 stitches around her left eye following the alleged domestic-violence assault.

Sources said her wound is consistent with a jagged piece of glass tearing into her skin.

Investigators have seen the business card and who it belongs to and consider it potential evidence in the case.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that a top aide to Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith showed up at the police station to offer assistance to Monserrate, a fellow Democrat, on the morning he was busted.

Smith's office confirmed that Chief of Staff Mortimer Lawrence - a former Queens assistant DA - went to the 105th Precinct station house in Queens Village to help Monserrate, but insisted Smith did not direct him to do so.

"[Lawrence] was there on his own volition to see how he could help an incoming member of the Senate," said Smith spokesman Austin Shaffran.

"He did not do anything to try to intervene on Mr. Monserrate's behalf. He did not speak to Monserrate at the precinct. Nor was his appearance at the direction of Senator Smith," Shaffran said.

Nah, those Dems would never try and help keep something like this hush-hush. I'm sure he was just there to help offer some solace to this deranged lunatic.

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