[UPDATED] Senator Slashy Blames Girlfriend's Intoxication

[UPDATE BELOW, with video] State Senator Hiram Monserrate's girlfriend told hospital workers he had beaten her and slashed her face only because she was drunk, Monserrate's lawyer said yesterday. "Were not blaming her for anything," said famed defense lawyer Joe Tacopina. "But intoxication impairs one's ability to perceive." The Post also notes that Tacopina blamed a "language barrier."

As previously reported, the trial is proceeding without evidence from Monserrate's girlfriend, who agrees with his story that the slashes on her face, which apparently go in several different directions, were a result of him falling on her with a glass of water in hand. But there's other evidence: today it was revealed that the same neighbor who heard Monserrate say, "You want the water? You want the water? Here's your water!" (and then heard a thud) also had to "bang on the ceiling with a yardstick" to get the loudly arguing couple to shut up.