No Bail for Singing Coach’s Alleged Wine-Fueled Killer After Fatal Shove
‘SERIOUS FLIGHT RISK’
Lauren Pazienza fled the city, hid her cell phone, and scrubbed her social media presence after reading that Barbara Gustern had died, prosecutors said.
The 26-year-old woman accused of fatally shoving a beloved octogenarian voice coach to the concrete in an unprovoked March attack has been ordered to be held without bail by a New York City judge, who cited the defendant’s potential flight risk and the brutal nature of the attack in making her decision Tuesday. Lauren Pazienza, an events planner, pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault at the arraignment. Prosecutors alleged at the hearing that Pazienza called Barbara Gustern, 87, a “bitch” before pushing her “as hard as Ms. Gustern had ever been hit in her life.” The coach hit her head in the fall, sustaining injuries that would kill her five days later. Assistant District Attorney Justin McNabney said Tuesday that Pazienza had consumed “several glasses of wine” that day while touring art galleries with her fiancé. When told she would have to leave a park that was closing, McNabney said, “The defendant became angry, started shouting and cursing at the park employee, threw her food onto her fiancé, and stormed out of the park.” Pazienza allegedly encountered Gustern shortly after. After listening, Judge Felicia Mennin expressed concerns that Pazienza was “a serious flight risk,” and revoked her $500,000 bail.
