Monserrate stays under restraining order

State Senator Hiram Monserrate remains under court order to stay away from his girlfriend, after a Criminal Court judge ignored her request to lift it.
Monserrate is charged with slashing girlfriend Karla Giraldo’s face with a broken glass and then driving her from his Jackson Heights apartment to Long Island Jewish Medical Center on the Queens-Nassau border.
At a pre-trial hearing on Friday, January 16, Judge Joseph Zayas continued Monserrate’s bail, but refused to modify the order of protection. Giraldo was not allowed to appear.
He was arrested at 7:40 a.m. on Friday, December 19, by police from the 105th Precinct, after Giraldo reportedly told hospital staff and cops that he slashed her in a jealous rage.
Monserrate was arraigned later that day, on felony assault and misdemeanor weapons charges, and released on $5,000 bail.
Giraldo later recanted her accusation, insisting that he slipped while carrying a glass of water, and she was cut in the face by accident.
She has refused to sign a complaint, saying that she didn’t want to go to the hospital and Monseratte forced her “for my own good.”
Since the state is the complainant-of-record in felonies, Giraldo’s help isn’t required for the trial to proceed.
According to prosecutors, security videos show Monseratte dragging Giraldo through the apartment hallway. She is shown ringing another doorbell, they say.
Monserrate’s attorney Irving Seidman has publically accused Queens District Attorney Richard Brown of “retribution,” accusing him of “orchestrating the arrest in retaliation for Monserrate’s prior criticism of the office.”
As a member of the City Council, Monseratte came under scrutiny for funding a community group in his district for more than $400,000. They could not account for the money, but were suspected of financially supporting his political campaign.
He is due back in court on Tuesday, January 27. If convicted, he faces seven years in prison and would have to resign the senate seat he won in November’s election.