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Who is Lauren Pazienza
Lauren Pazienza is a 28-year-old Long Island resident who was accused of fatally shoving 87-year-old vocal coach Barbara Gustern in Chelsea, New York City in March 2022[1].
Pazienza pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and assault in the death of Gustern and was described by prosecutors as having a tantrum before pushing the voice coach[2]. In August 2023, Pazienza pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 years in prison[3][4][5].
Pazienza grew up in an idyllic part of Long Island, where her dad Daniel runs a successful business in Holtsville that has previously been ranked the No. 1 cesspool company in Suffolk County for service and price[1]. She attended Ward Melville High School in nearby Setauket with her future fiancé, now a Microsoft employee[1].
Pazienza was seen gallivanting around town, attending swanky clubs and art gallery openings, but neighbors at the upscale Astoria condo where she lived with her boyfriend said she wasn’t all smiles at home[1]. Law enforcement sources say that Pazienza was a known nuisance in the Shore Towers, and had previously called the cops on her neighbors[1][6].
Citations: [1] Who is Lauren Pazienza, accused of fatally shoving Barbara Gustern in NYC? - NY Post https://nypost.com/2022/03/23/who-is-lauren-pazienza-accused-of-fatally-shoving-barbara-gustern-in-nyc/
[2] Prosecutors Describe Lauren Pazienza's Tantrum Before Pushing Voice Coach - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/nyregion/lauren-pazienza-vocal-coach-barbara-gustern-bail.html
[3] Lauren Pazienza to serve 8 years for killing beloved vocal coach - NY Post https://nypost.com/2023/08/23/lauren-pazienza-to-serve-8-years-for-killing-beloved-vocal-coach/
[4] Lauren Pazienza pleads guilty to killing 87-year-old vocal coach, will be sentenced to 8 years in prison - CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lauren-pazienza-guilty-manslaughter-barbara-gustern-vocal-coach-sentence-8-years-prison/
[5] Who is Lauren Pazienza? Long-Island event planner pleads guilty in shoving beloved NYC voice coach | MEAWW https://meaww.com/who-is-lauren-pazienza-long-island-event-planner-pleads-guilty-in-shoving-beloved-nyc-voice-coach
[6] Who Is Lauren Pazienza, Suspect in Singing Coach's Death? - Curbed https://www.curbed.com/2022/03/lauren-pazienza-suspect-singing-coach-death.html
Thanks for that great summary.
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Are we allowed to schadenfreude this wealthy convict? Or is that too gauche for my fellow lemmies?
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What the fuck is wrong with people? According to this article it was unprovoke. What was the woman's rational for doing this? The article doesn't say.
I looked up some other articles
Pazienza’s fatal shove of the respected coach came during a drunken rampage on a night of celebrating her upcoming nuptials with her fiancé at West 28th Street, prosecutors have said.
The 5-foot-7 Pazienza encountered the 4-foot-11 Gustern after becoming enraged by a Parks Department worker kicking her and her beau out of Chelsea Park — where the pair had been eating dinner — because the green space was closing, according to the DA’s office.
After throwing her food at her lover, Pazienza crossed the street and randomly attacked Gustern — and then coldly walked away as the elderly woman bled from her head, officials said.
“Notice how she didn’t go after some 6-foot-tall, 200-pound guy – she went after my 80-pound grandmother,” Gustern’s grandson said after Wednesday’s hearing.
She sounds like a real piece of shit. https://nypost.com/2023/08/23/lauren-pazienza-to-serve-8-years-for-killing-beloved-vocal-coach/ (I know NYP can be a shitty source but can be a good source for getting sorid details)
Following the attack, Pazienza took the subway back to her Astoria home, where she finally disclosed to her fiancé that she had shoved someone hours later. \ After seeing on the news that the beloved vocal coach had died – and spotting herself in surveillance images released by police – Pazienza deleted all of her social media accounts, removed her wedding website and fled to Long Island to stay with family, the DA’s office said. ... But Pazienza’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, has claimed that Pazienza was so bombed off of a cocktail of wine, weed and prescription drugs that she could not have possibly known what she was doing, or had the required “intent” for the manslaughter charge to stick.
"No your honor, your don't understand. I was just really wasted."
I belive they said she was having a temper tantrum when she did it. A fucking temper tantrum?
Drugs and alcohol everytime. Where was her finance during this rampage? Thank you for the Details she going have pay for her consequences. Hopefully she sobers up and cleans up. That lady should have never died that way.
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Spoiled bitch basically
"it was a prank, bro!"
This fucking sub-human murdered an innocent woman at random because she was having a temper tantrum after being kicked out of a city park. And she only gets 8 fucking years?
So, if I understand this right, it's mostly OK to kill people at random in NYC? That's the message this extremely light sentence conveys.
It wasn't murder, because it wasn't pre-meditated and she likely didn't intend to kill when she did it. Manslaugher and assault seem the correct charges. I'm not making excuses for her, she deserves jail over this. But all those mitigating factors matter when you compare this case with murder cases that get 20+ years.
It must suck to be a judge, and have to decide that taking some lives are worth more or less than taking others.
Eight years in state prison is an extremely light sentence? I'd hate to know what would be considered severe in your world.
I always found the thought alone scary. Imagine losing one year of your life locked up. Everything around you would just 'move past' while you're caged in. Now imagine eight years of your past life and how much happened in that time and what you would have missed.
I don't think any country should have lifelong (timely unlimited) sentences, they're incredibly cruel, maybe worse than death.
Yeah, I think prison should be reserved for people who are an immediate danger to society. She probably qualifies, but I'd say that any continued imprisonment should be determined by a parole board, including a professional psychologist or something.
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She gets to have a life after those 8 years. The woman she killed doesnt. Her family never gets to see her again. She's GONE because of this bitch and there's no bringing her back.
You clearly have no idea what life with a serious criminal record is like if you think she's going to be able to just pick up where she left off when she gets out (nevermind the lost 8 years).
Don't get me wrong, what she did was fucked up, but an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, and it sounds like the only sentence you'd have been happy with is more or less life in prison. She didn't set out to kill this lady, even in the heat of the moment. It's beyond fucked up to shove an old lady in any case, and every single day of those 8 years is well earned, but I don't agree that it's light.
As a society we need to get over this idea that the goal of prison is to punish the perpetrators. The point should be to rehabilitate them so that when they get out they can be decent law abiding, productive members of society. A person rotting in prison for the rest of their life does nothing but waste tax dollars and cause misery. A person rehabilitated can go on to make the world a tiny bit better, and maybe even help someone else from going down the same fucked up path she did.
Its a fact that countries whose prison systems are centered around rehabilitation have lower repeat offender rates
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killed an 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach by pushing her to the ground
Damn I was hoping for something more dramatic, like a subway or tall building
Should the headline not describe her more accurately as "murderer" instead of "woman". Like, why does her gender even matter? The fact that she killed another human being matters a lot more. It should read "A murderer..."
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this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
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