A state appeals panel has upheld the misdemeanor assault conviction that led to Hiram Monserrate’s expulsion from the state Senate. A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department, ruled last week that the evidence was legally sufficient to establish that Mr. Monserrate committed third degree assault when he slashed his girlfriend Karla Giraldo with a broken glass and dragged her by the hair at his Queens apartment.
“Here, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution…we find that it was legally sufficient to establish every element of the crime of assault in the third degree, including ‘physical injury,’ defined as ‘substantial pain,’” the four-member panel ruled in People v. Monserrate, 2009-11564.
