NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A Long Island woman who admitted to pushing senior Broadway voice coach Barbara Maier Gustern to her death was not given a fair trial because of her race, according to her attorney.
The 27-year-old Lauren Pazienza attacked the 87-year-old voice coach and violently shoved her on a Chelsea sidewalk last March. Prosecutors assert that Pazienza then tried to hide her activities for the following two weeks.
She fled her Astoria apartment where she lives with her Microsoft employee fiance, quit her job, deactivated her social media accounts, and even hid her cell phone at her aunt's home in Long Island.
Lawyer Arthur Aidala claims Lauren Pazienza was targeted due to her race
Pazienza on Wednesday, August 23, admitted to fatally shoving 87-year-old singing coach Gustern in an accidental attack on a Manhattan street.
Pazienza, the descendant of a Long Island cesspool empire, was facing up to 25 years in jail on manslaughter and assault charges for slamming Gustern to the ground and calling the old woman a "b****" on March 10, 2022.
However, as part of a plea agreement, she will only spend eight years in prison. Pazienza has no prior criminal history.
She has been represented by Arthur Aidala, who previously defended notorious film executive Harvey Weinstein during his 2020 Manhattan trial.
Aidala told the Daily Mail that the heiress to a sizable cesspool-draining enterprise had been victimized. He said, "It's just ignorant, naive and inaccurate to say race does not play a role in this and the media coverage."
Since the attack that seemed to have no purpose, Pazienza has been detained in Rikers Island for more than a year.
Lauren Pazienza's attorney Arthur Aidala employs bizarre defense strategy
After the assault, Pazienza returned to her Astoria home, where she revealed to her fiance for the first time that she had pushed someone to the ground.
Pazienza's projected prison term for the murder is eight years, which is a major reduction from the 25-year sentence she would have faced in court if found guilty. She is scheduled to be sentenced on September 29.
According to Aidala, whose hourly rate is $950 and whose prior clients include Rudy Giuliani and Harvey Weinstein, Pazienza "would never be charged with manslaughter in the first degree" if she weren't White.
According to Pazienza's lawyer, the 27-year-old woman was so stoned from a mix of alcohol, marijuana, and prescription drugs that it was impossible for her to have known what she was doing or had the necessary "intent" for the manslaughter conviction to stand.
Pazienza had downed a lot of wine with her fiance to commemorate their 100-day countdown to their wedding before the seemingly random attack. She might have also taken Xanax, as per Daily Mail.
Outside of a Manhattan criminal courthouse in June, defense attorney Aidala alleged that the defendant "had had drugs, she had maybe two bottles of wine, and a ton of marijuana."
Aidala stated on Wednesday, "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. They wanted remand - remand means jail, no matter how much money you put up," added the high-profile attorney.
Aidala claimed that he objected to the decision as being unfair.
He said, "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."
Lauren Pazienza 'was pure trouble'
After a few weeks, Pazienza finally turned herself into the NYPD after the department released surveillance footage showing her as a possible attacker.
Her former acquaintances claimed that it was "no surprise" to hear that Pazienza had been charged with the horrible crime.
One of her former friends stated, "What angered me most was seeing that her lawyer said she's overcharged and is a good and moral person. She's not. I knew her very well at school and she was pure trouble."
"She's the poster child for White privilege," said the former classmate. "She never faced any consequences in her life. She was enabled by her parents who got her out of everything, but she called them stupid and basic."
