| The verdict was handed down today in Senator Hiram Monserrate's assault trial that should allow him some relief.
Monserrate was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge instead of the felony assault charge that would have led to his removal from the New York State Senate.
An outspoken and brash state senator from Queens was found guilty this afternoon on a misdemeanor charge in the face-slashing attack on his girlfriend.
But Sen. Hiram Monserrate escaped the more serious felony assault conviction that would have led to his immediate expulsion from the Senate. That would have created a new round of intrigue in the always-combative Senate because Democrats would have been, for possibly several months, one vote short to adopt bills without the help of reluctant Republicans.
Monserrate was accused by prosecutors of slashing his girlfriend's face with a broken glass last December following a loud argument. The freshman senator, a former New York City police officer, denied any wrongdoing, insisting it was an accident.
This ruling might have been expected, but it wasn't the verdict everyone would have expected months ago. With Monserrate's involvement in the "Gang of Four", many people hoped that he would be found guilty of a felony and booted from office.
It is unfortunate, however, that we do not punish to the fullest extent of the law, men who beat women but we will send a football player to prison for shooting himself.
There is a lot wrong with that picture. A lot. |
