Peter Braunstein - Trial

Trial

Braunstein's trial in May 2007 in State Supreme Court in Manhattan was covered closely by the New York media. His victim testified at length about the assault, and Larkworthy recalled on the stand how Braunstein had played out elements of the crime when the two were together. Prosecutors disclosed Braunstein's personal manifesto, written in the months before the crime, in which he said that God had intended him for the purpose of working justice upon those who sinned. The jury was ultimately allowed to hear only an excerpt in which he pondered killing Vogue editor Anna Wintour. "She will be escorted by eunuchs to a place in hell run by large rats", he declared. He recounted how she had, unlike other prominent fashion editors, never deigned to speak to him on the phone. He also ranted about Sex and the City creator Darren Star and Larkworthy.

His defense tried to argue that he had a brain dysfunction that left him unable to distinguish fantasy and reality, that during the assault he had been living in the former. His lawyers put a psychologist on the stand as an expert witness, and tried to show when cross-examining Larkworthy that he was displaying similar symptoms even then.

The jury convicted Braunstein of kidnapping, sexual abuse (known as sexual assault in some other jurisdictions), robbery, and several other felonies on May 23, 2007 (but acquitting him of arson since they found he had not set the fire to cause damage to the building, only as a diversion). The panel deliberated less than four hours. On June 18, 2007, Braunstein was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.