nevadamedic
05-23-2007, 10:00 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- A former fashion writer was convicted Wednesday of sexually abusing a woman for almost 13 hours after posing as a firefighter on Halloween to bluff his way into her Manhattan apartment.
A jury needed less than four hours to convict Peter Braunstein in a case that provided a window into the bizarre world of a man whose life seemed to grow ever more unstable after he lost his girlfriend and his job in the magazine business.
Braunstein, 43, was convicted of kidnapping, burglary, sex abuse and robbery charges. He was acquitted of arson.
Braunstein's lawyers did not dispute that he carried out the 2005 attack, but said he was so mentally ill that he was unable to form the intent to be held criminally responsible for the crimes.
Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal said Tuesday that Braunstein was an "arrogant, jealous and vindictive man" who wanted to send an angry message to the people who spurned him.
Rosenthal said a conniving Braunstein ignited smoke bombs on Halloween night 2005 while wearing firefighter gear that he bought on the Internet.
Then, she said, Braunstein bluffed his way into the apartment of his victim, a former co-worker, and knocked her out with chloroform, tied her naked to a bed and sexually abused her.
"He meticulously planned and executed this case down to the last detail, and not only the crime but his flight afterward," Rosenthal said.
Robert C. Gottlieb, one of Braunstein's lawyers, told the jury his client's mental illness crippled his brain and left him unable to form the intent or the conscious objective to commit the crimes.
Gottlieb said Braunstein heard voices and had delusions, which are symptoms of schizophrenia, while prosecution experts said the defendant had a personality disorder and other less severe mental ailments.
"It doesn't matter what you may choose to call it," Gottlieb said. "Call it an orange, or a banana. Whatever you call it, Mr. Braunstein was undeniably mentally ill on October 31, 2005."
Braunstein was captured by police December 16, 2005, on the University of Memphis Campus. He stabbed himself in the neck several times in an apparent suicide attempt as officers approached and arrested him.
Before being fired, Braunstein was a reporter at Fairchild Publications, parent of Women's Wear Daily and W magazine. His victim worked there too, but they barely knew each other.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/23/fake.firefighter.ap/index.html
What a creep.
A jury needed less than four hours to convict Peter Braunstein in a case that provided a window into the bizarre world of a man whose life seemed to grow ever more unstable after he lost his girlfriend and his job in the magazine business.
Braunstein, 43, was convicted of kidnapping, burglary, sex abuse and robbery charges. He was acquitted of arson.
Braunstein's lawyers did not dispute that he carried out the 2005 attack, but said he was so mentally ill that he was unable to form the intent to be held criminally responsible for the crimes.
Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal said Tuesday that Braunstein was an "arrogant, jealous and vindictive man" who wanted to send an angry message to the people who spurned him.
Rosenthal said a conniving Braunstein ignited smoke bombs on Halloween night 2005 while wearing firefighter gear that he bought on the Internet.
Then, she said, Braunstein bluffed his way into the apartment of his victim, a former co-worker, and knocked her out with chloroform, tied her naked to a bed and sexually abused her.
"He meticulously planned and executed this case down to the last detail, and not only the crime but his flight afterward," Rosenthal said.
Robert C. Gottlieb, one of Braunstein's lawyers, told the jury his client's mental illness crippled his brain and left him unable to form the intent or the conscious objective to commit the crimes.
Gottlieb said Braunstein heard voices and had delusions, which are symptoms of schizophrenia, while prosecution experts said the defendant had a personality disorder and other less severe mental ailments.
"It doesn't matter what you may choose to call it," Gottlieb said. "Call it an orange, or a banana. Whatever you call it, Mr. Braunstein was undeniably mentally ill on October 31, 2005."
Braunstein was captured by police December 16, 2005, on the University of Memphis Campus. He stabbed himself in the neck several times in an apparent suicide attempt as officers approached and arrested him.
Before being fired, Braunstein was a reporter at Fairchild Publications, parent of Women's Wear Daily and W magazine. His victim worked there too, but they barely knew each other.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/05/23/fake.firefighter.ap/index.html
What a creep.