Woman Who Fatally Shoved Beloved NYC Vocal Coach Barbara Gustern Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter, Faces Eight Years In Prison
deadline.comLauren Pazienza, who deliberately and randomly shoved 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach Barbara Gustern to the ground on a Manhattan sidewalk in 2022 causing the elderly woman’s death, changed her plea from not guilty to guilty and will be sentenced to eight years in state prison.
The plea deal was announced today by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. “Lauren Pazienza aggressively shoved Barbara Gustern to the ground and walked away as the beloved New Yorker lay there bleeding,” Bragg said in a statement. “Today’s plea holds Pazienza accountable for her deadly actions.
We continue to mourn the loss of Barbara Gustern, a talented musical theater performer and vocal coach who touched so many in New York City and beyond.” In addition to the eight years in prison, the 27-year-old Pazienza, a former events coordinator, received five years of post-release supervision for the shoving that occurred near Gustern’s apartment building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood,.
The guilty plea to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree was entered in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. She will be officially sentenced on September 29.
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