A Queens grand jury indicted State Senator Hiram Monserrate on Monday, March 23 on charges that he assaulted his girlfriend at his Jackson Heights apartment in December of 2008.
Monserrate is suspected to be arraigned later this week on a six-count indictment – including three counts of second-degree assault, a Class D felony, and three counts of third-degree assault, a Class A misdemeanor – which could land him in jail for seven years if convicted.
The charges stem from an altercation Monserrate allegedly had with his girlfriend Karla Giraldo, 29, during the early morning hours of December 19, 2008. After an argument, Monserrate allegedly struck Giraldo in the face with a piece of glass that left her with a black eye and lacerations that needed 20 stitches.
Hours after the incident took place, Monserrate took Giraldo to Long Island Jewish Hospital, where she reportedly told doctors and police that Monserrate hit her, but she quickly changed her story, saying that the incident was an accident. Monserrate also claims that the incident was an accident.
When law enforcement officials filed charges against Monserrate last year, Brooklyn Republican State Senator Martin Golden called for the newly-elected Senator to resign from office, and after the indictment, Golden renewed his call. Although Monserrate stepped down temporarily from his position as Chair of the Senate’s Consumer Protection Committee, he has no plans to vacate his Senate position.
“Senator Monserrate is innocent, and I will not be resigning,” Monserrate told a swarm of Albany reporters on Monday, as they followed him while he was exiting the Senate Chamber.
During the last few months, Monserrate has accused Queens District Attorney (DA) Richard Brown and his office of having a vendetta against him for previous statements Monserrate has made that have been critical of the DA’s office.
Monserrate is supposed to be arraigned in Queens later this week, but his supporters and detractors did not waste any time making their opinion known.
“More and more and more, I view this situation as an unethical process because it’s become political,” said Martha Flores-Vasquez, who is the Executive Director of Community Prevention Alternatives for Families in Crisis, which educates individuals about domestic violence and the need for the community to take a stand against it.
Flores-Vasquez, who is also a district leader in Queens, has supported Monserrate since both he and Giraldo said the incident was an accident.
“There is no room for politics on the issue of domestic violence; there is no room for that,” she said.
However, other groups were much more critical of Monserrate after the indictment, and they believe he should step down from his Senate seat.
“The presence of this indicted individual in the halls of the NYS Legislature is an affront to all the women who work there,” said National Organization for Women (NOW) New York State President Marcia Pappas. “In fact, it would be to hard to imagine a more hostile work environment than this situation presents, what with a man indicted for assaulting women still in charge of making laws to protect women!”
