PM Update: The jury has found Braunstein guilty of 14 of the 15 charges. He was acquitted of the arson charge (the fire he started in order to convince the victim to open up her apartment door as he posed as a firefighter). more ›

A psychiatrist who treated Peter Braunstein at Bellevue after the police arrested him for the October 21, 2005 sexual assault and kidnapping of a former colleague testified in court yesterday. Dr. Li-Wen Lee said that Braunstein, who is on trial for assault, kidnapping, said she believed he was exaggerating his symptoms. Lee also said that Braunstein has bipolar mood swings and a narcissistic personality disorder - not paranoid schizophrenia as a defense witness said - and that he stockpiled pills for a suicide attempt. more ›

Yesterday, lawyers for Peter Braunstein, the journalist turned molester in a firefighter's costume, said that their client has a fractured skull with a brain hematoma. While they say they are not sure how he got the injury, an assistant district attorney told a judge that a Riker's official said it was "self-inflicted": "...the official said he banged his head on a sink in his cell, possibly in an attempt to delay his trial." Well, Braunstein did try to slash his own throat when authorities caught up with him in Memphis. more ›

The two page blackmail letter that Yoko Ono's driver, Koral Karsan, wrote in hopes of receiving $2M from her, was released yesterday. Karsan's lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, filed it with Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel FitzGerald. more ›

Just because that Littlejohn fellow is all over the news today doesn't mean we can forget about the last guy who scared the bejesus out of New York for a few moments: former WWD writer, alleged fake fireman and rapist, and all around deranged guy, Peter Braunstein. more ›

Obviously hurting for some Fake Firefighter Perv coverage, the Post breaks the story that Peter Braunstein has gotten a new haircut! Unfortunately, the online version didn't provide a picture or illustration, so we had to mock up our own ideas, seen above. The Post's description: more ›

The lawyer for Halloween sex attacker, Peter Braunstein, complained in court about various leaks in his client's case. Attorney Robert Gottlieb wrote, "I am disappointed and extremely frustrated by the district attorney's failure to ensure that prejudicial information solely in the possession of the District Attorney and the NYPD is not disseminated in the media...Members of law enforcement have brazenly engaged in an unauthorized and impermissible release of highly prejudicial information about allegations and evidence in this case to members of the press." Oh, please, Braunstein seems like such a gloryhound, we're thinking he might have leaked parts of the story to the press himself. And how much is the NYPD or DA's office supposed to withhold, if they are trying to contact the public to keep them on their toes about a criminal? Gottlieb wants a gag order on the case and for the DA's office to investigate the leaks, and the DA Robert Morgenthau's response should be pretty interesting. more ›

As any armchair litigator (okay, Law & Order fan) knows, sometimes defendants plead not guilty by reason of insanity. And that's what Halloween sex attacker Peter Braunstein's lawyer may do. We were puzzled by Braunstein's not guilty plea yesterday, but it turns out that the defense has thirty days to decide whether or not to use an insanity defense for the not guilty plea. It's like we've just taken "Criminal Court, 101"! His lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, said that doctors at Bellevue, where Braunstein is under suicide watch (you try to stab yourself with a knife when confronted by the police, you get suicide watch), had performed some sort of psychiatric evaluation, but "apparently [it] was not a court-ordered examination." Maybe the doctors just wanted to know what they and their staffers should be worried about? Anyway, the NY Times prints the money quote: Braunstein's father, Alberto, told reporters, "I always said he was deranged and I still think he's deranged, and that's about it." more ›