Now a Senator, Monserrate still has legal woes

Although he is now officially State Senator Hiram Monserrate, his legal troubles are far from over and continue to cast a cloud over his political future in that position.
Since police arrested Monserrate on Friday morning, December 19 on charges that he hit his girlfriend Karla Giraldo with a broken piece of glass after an alleged argument took place, Monserrate and Giraldo are both claiming the incident was a freak accident.
In an exclusive interview with The New York Daily News published in the Tuesday, January 6 edition, Monserrate accused the police and Queens District Attorney of leaking lies to the media, and he disputed the charges against him.
“I never hit Karla, yanked her hair or abused her in any way,” Monserrate reportedly said. “Any videotapes the police obtained from my building will back me up.”
A spokesperson for the Queens District Attorney’s office said they had no comment on a pending case and declined to address Monserrate’s comments.
Monserrate’s interview appeared days after a Giraldo gave an interview to Resumen - the Spanish-language newspaper where she works - where she also denied that Monserrate attacked her that morning.
However, the Queens District Attorney is continuing its investigation, and Monserrate is due back in court on Friday, January 16.
Monserrate faces charges of second-degree assault and weapons possession for the incident that left Giraldo with 20 stitches in her face and a black eye. If Monserrate is convicted of those charges, he would be forced to give up his State Senate position, and a special election would commence to choose his replacement.
Meanwhile, after Monserrate resigned from the City Council in order to take his Senate seat effective New Year’s Day, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for a special election to take place on Tuesday, February 24 in order to fill the vacant seat.
While a number of candidates including Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Queens Vice President Eduardo Giraldo and Democratic District Leaders Francisco Moya and George Dixon plan to run for the seat, Monserrate’s Council Chief of Staff Julissa Ferreras has emerged as the frontrunner.