Restraining Order Stands as Hiram Case Moves Forward

Prosecutors in a Queens court yesterday began making the case against newly sworn in State Senator Hiram Monserrate on charges of second-degree assault for last month's slashing of his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo. A judge refused to lift the order of protection separating the two and did not allow Giraldo to speak before the court. Monserrate withdrew his previous waiver of his right to a speedy trial, so the case can now be brought before a grand jury.

Domestic Violence bureau chief Scott Kessler said he is backed up by video evidence as he presented a very different version of events from Giraldo's current explanation of what happened the night in question. After Moserrate allegedly smashed the glass across Giraldo's face, Kessler told the court, "She got to the bottom of the stairs … (and) rang a doorbell on the first floor. She was screaming. He pulls so hard … there is also an injury on her wrist as a result of the dragging. She said she bruises easily."

But the only thing Giraldo now claims that she was forced into by Monserrate was to go to the hospital. After retracting her original allegations, her handwritten affidavit to the court yesterday stated, “As I walked down the hallway of the apartment building with Hiram, I refused to go to the hospital, but Hiram insisted that I go for my own good." As to why she claimed otherwise after the incident, she said, "I felt coerced and harassed by the police and the D.A.’s office."

Monserrate's lawyer says that the DA's office has it out for the state senator after he had criticized them for their handling of two murder cases in the past. In court yesterday, he told the judge, "This is called retribution!"

Monserrate spoke to reporters outside the court saying, "The truth is the light and it will protect me."