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New York City event planner Lauren Pazienza will soon be released on a $1 million bond after she was locked up for fatally shoving a beloved Broadway singing coach, her lawyer said.
Attorney Arthur Aidala waived 26-year-old Pazienza’s appearance Friday in court, where prosecutors announced she had not yet been indicted.
She’s charged with first-degree manslaughter and two counts of assault for allegedly shoving Barbara Gustern so hard, she fell and struck her head on the pavement.
Lauren Pazienza lounges by a pool in an undated photo.
(Tumblr)
After the brief hearing, Aidala told reporters that her parents had posted her bond, and she was expected to be released shortly from Rikers Island, where she has been jailed since surrendering Tuesday.
Aidala took issue with his client’s portrayal in the press, insisting that she is not a spoiled girl from a well-heeled family.
“I love how her father is being portrayed as some big shot rich guy,” Aidala said of Dan Pazienza, who owns Suffolk County Cesspool Service, a sewer company ran out of a modest office in Holtsville, Long Island. “He literally, literally, digs holes where our human waste goes in, and he works by himself with two helpers with a shovel digging ditches.”
Lauren Pazienza’s mugshot beside a photo Barbara Gustern
( Tumblr/ Barbara Gustern/Facebook)
Lauren Pazienza, who had worked as an event coordinator for luxury furniture brand Roche and Bobois before resigning in December, has been dubbed a “cesspool scion” and a “socialite.”
The Fashion Institute of Technology graduate’s parents bought their home in an upscale suburb in Port Jefferson, New York, for about $570,000 in 2017, public records show.
“She is far from a young woman who grew up in a very spoiled, privileged environment,” said Aidala, who added that her fiancé, Microsoft employee Naveen Pereira, is standing by her.
The couple’s wedding was scheduled for June – but it’s unclear if they will go forward with the ceremony.
That will be a personal matter for them to discuss,” Aidala said of the nuptials. “The whole family is traumatized but everyone is very supportive of her.”
The parents of Lauren Pazienza leave criminal court trailed by members of the media after their daughter’s arraignment Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Prosecutors say that Pazienza, who did not know Gustern, called her a “bi—” before pushing her March 10 in what they described as an unprovoked attack. Gustern bled profusely before losing consciousness and later died of her injuries.
No motive has been offered for the violent outburst against the famed voice couch whose students have included Debbie Harry.
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Former classmates told Fox News Digital that Pazienza, who has no prior criminal record, was a bully in school.
She’s due back in court April 25. If convicted of the top charge, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
EDITORS NOTE: In an earlier version of this article, Fox News stated that Lauren Pazienza had been indicted.