The attorney for a 27-year-old Long Island woman who pleaded guilty to shoving her 87-year-old vocal coach to her death now claims his client is the victim of discrimination because she is white.
Attorney Arthur Aidala, whose celebrity client list includes such names as Rudy Giuliani and Harvey Weinstein, said Lauren Pazienza only gained media coverage for her heinous crime because she “is a white girl.”
As BizPac Review reported, in March of last year, Pazienza confronted acclaimed Broadway singing coach Barbara Maier Gustern outside her Chelsea apartment as Gustern was waiting for a cab.
After calling Gustern a “b*tch,” Pazienza, heiress to her father’s cesspool draining company, shoved Gustern to the ground, leaving her “bleeding profusely from the head,” according to Assistant District Attorney Justin McNabney.
NYC woman charged in death of 87-yr-old vocal coach watched ambulance arrive before fleeing https://t.co/RZS1t5NkRC pic.twitter.com/PwpnQAEwUH
— BizPac Review (@BIZPACReview) March 23, 2022
Pazienza reportedly watched the ambulance arrive on the scene before fleeing.
Gustern, who coached rock icon Debbie Harry of Blondie, died from severe brain injuries five days later, and Pazienza, who ultimately turned herself in, was charged with manslaughter and assault.
On Wednesday, Pazienza pleaded guilty, thus avoiding the risk of a 25-year sentence she could face at trial. According to DailyMail.com, as a result of the deal, Pazienza is now expected to serve eight years behind bars after being formally sentenced on September 29.
Had she been any color other than white, Aidala said, she “would never be charged with manslaughter in the first degree.”
“It’s just ignorant, naïve and inaccurate to say race does not play a role in this and the media coverage,” Aidala told DailyMail.com. “There’s only the media coverage because this is a white girl.”
“If this was an African American young woman who pushed an African American 87-year-old woman in Inwood, Manhattan,” he argued, “maybe you wouldn’t even hear about it.”
Since attacking Gustern — apparently for no reason — Pazienza has been held at Rikers Island.
Keeping her locked up pending her trial was ridiculous, Aidala said.
“The day of the arraignment, I’m in the courtroom, in front of the judge,” he recalled. “Four or five cases before me were all African American men. They all had records on serious crimes. The prosecution didn’t even ask for bail.”
“Now my little white girl comes up with no record of serious crime,” he stated. “They wanted remand – remand means jail, no matter how much money you put up.”
(Video: YouTube)
Aidala argued to the judge that the decision was unfair.
“I said to the judge: ‘Did you see what just happened, judge?'” the attorney told DailyMail.com. “These five cases right before her, guys with big rap sheets, violent men – no bail. Then this young lady, 125lbs, she’s the one who can’t leave. Her mother’s here, her grandmother’s here, and father.”
Aidala also noted that Pazienza was under the influence of drugs and alcohol prior to the senseless assault on Gustern.
“She had had drugs, she had maybe two bottles of wine, and a ton of marijuana,” he said. “She was bombed – under the law if you’re so intoxicated you’re not to be able to form the intent, then they have to reduce it.”
He said, because of her intoxicated state, he is “optimistic” that her sentence will be reduced.
“Our expert says she was so drunk she could not have formed the intent. She’s now being interviewed by their expert. Within the next three weeks I’m going to get his report,” Aidala said. “Their expert consistently works for the prosecution and my expert works for both sides, so I’m optimistic.”
But as BizPac Review reported last year, Pazienza was known to be a “bully” with a short temper.
According to one former classmate who lived down the street from her, Pazienza would allegedly kick him, call him names, and always had a “crazy look in her eyes.”
Socialite daughter of cesspool mogul accused of fatally shoving 87-yr-old reportedly a short-tempered ‘bully’ https://t.co/iDgranxQb0 pic.twitter.com/HFfIqXoR7g
— BizPac Review (@BIZPACReview) March 24, 2022
Pazienza’s neighbors weren’t surprised to learn of the Fashion Institute of Technology graduate’s violent behavior.
“There’s always some type of issue, some type of complaint,” one neighbor said at the time. “You’ll always know it’s her. It’s ridiculous.”
“What angered me most was seeing that her lawyer said she’s overcharged and is a good and moral person. She’s not,” one former friend said, according to DailyMail.com. “I knew her very well at school and she was pure trouble.”
“She’s the poster child for white privilege. She never faced any consequences in her life,” the former classmate said. “She was enabled by her parents who got her out of everything, but she called them stupid and basic.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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