Saturday, December 20, 2008

No Time For Lame Excuses Mr. Monserrate

Calling this guy Councilman or even Senator-Elect just seems wrong at this point. Hiram Monserrate may be innocent until proven guilty, as we are all entitled to but when you have an aggregation of facts it is hard to ignore what will most likely become of this domestic dispute, this violence, this criminal behavior. Monserrate could just come clean and apologize for his actions, but no, he has to be the greedy politician he is and do whatever it takes to escape blame.

From The NY Times:

At Mr. Monserrate’s arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Friday evening, the assistant district attorney, Scott Kessler, said that Mr. Monserrate told the police he was bringing his companion, Karla Giraldo, 30, a glass of water and leaned over and tripped, and the glass hit her. But the prosecutor said that Ms. Giraldo later said that the couple had a “loud and boisterous” argument about an item he found in her purse. He was holding a glass, which broke in his hand, she told officers.

“Then, in emotion, he stabbed her,” Mr. Kessler said.

He said Ms. Giraldo was now saying that it was an accident and that she did not want an order of protection. Mr. Kessler noted that that was common in domestic violence cases.

I feel terrible that Mr. Monserrate's actions (this week's episode most likely not being the first) have led Ms. Giraldo to try and protect this monster. Thankfully the legal system can step in here and prosecutors can suss out the facts, so that in the end, whether or Councilman, Senator or not, Hiram will pay for his crimes in full (and hopefully for this one too).