Monserrate Avoids Jail for Assault

New York State Senator Hiram Monserrate (D – Queens) will not serve jail time for having slashing his girlfriend’s face with a broken glass, having been sentenced, instead, to three years probation and 250 hours of community service. Monserrate, once at the center of a bitter partisan power struggle in the state capital, will also be required to undergo a 52-week counseling program for anger and jealousy issues. The state senator had been found guilty on misdemeanor assault charges this past October and could have potentially faced up to a year in prison.

Monserrate’s girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, asked the judge to lift the protection order that keeps Monserrate from seeing her, insisting that the slashing was accidental and not a case of domestic violence, though Queens Supreme Court Judge William Erlbaum declined to do so.

According to the New York Times, Monserrate will not be automatically required to give up his Senate seat, though a Senate committee is investigating whether to censure, suspend or expel him. In the meanwhile, Monserrate has vowed that he will not to resign.