Judge Should Quash Key Evidence To Punish Chatty Investigators, Gottlieb Says. Jan. 10, 2006

By Seamus McGraw

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NEW YORK (The Crime Library) Insisting that damaging leaks to one of New York City's tabloids have dramatically reduced the chances that his client can get a fair trial, the lawyer for accused Halloween sex attack suspect Peter Braunstein today asked a Manhattan judge to quash key pieces of evidence in the case, including the BB gun the former fashion writer is alleged to have used in the attack.

Peter Braunstein

In a letter, dated today and sent to Supreme Court Judge James Yates, lawyer Robert C. Gottlieb also asked for a gag order in the case.

"I am compelled to write this letter to call to the court's attention serious misconduct on the part of law enforcement in connection with this case," Gottlieb wrote, "and to ask for appropriate remedies."

At the heart of Gottlieb's complaint are what he alleges are "unauthorized and impermissible leaks," by law enforcement officials to the New York Post. Among them is a detailed report, published in the Jan. 6 issue of the Post under the headline "Rob & Run Tales in Perv Pete's 'Diary.'" Citing "law enforcement sources," reporter Murray Weiss wrote that Braunstein kept "a rambling diary while on the run," which told "of committing armed street rip-offs to stay on the lam," and adds that the fugitive "even scribbled some of his exploits on the back of a NYPD 'wanted' poster bearing his mug shot."

The journal was recovered in the 41-year-old Braunstein's backpack when he was arrested in December in Memphis, the Post reported. The backpack also contained a BB gun, believed to be the one used in the 13-hour Halloween sex attack in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood, and a video camera. The victim in the attack reportedly told authorities that her assailant videotaped her ordeal, though the Post reported that the camera taken from Braunstein's backpack contained no images. In a separate piece, reporters Weiss and Laura Italiano cite a law enforcement source as saying that Braunstein, a former writer for Women's Wear Daily, was "trying to create fear among women in his work group."

In addition to his letter to the judge asking for an immediate conference to discuss the leaks and seeking sanctions and a gag order, Gottlieb also fired off a blistering letter today to Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau demanding an investigation "to determine who in law enforcement is responsible for leaking this highly prejudicial information, and that appropriate legal steps be taken to punish those involved to ensure that there are no additional leaks in the future."

Morgenthau's office did not immediately comment.

In his letter to Yates, Gottlieb said he was seeking sanctions that would include barring the introduction of Braunstein's journal as evidence in his trial, along with the BB gun and video camera "that were so thoroughly discussed by the sources in the Post articles."

"This punishment would send the necessary message to these prosecutors that, in a criminal case, evidence and its admissibility is to be discussed in a courtroom only, that airing damaging allegations against a criminal defendant to gain unfair advantage will not be tolerated, and that only the court may determine if and when evidence is appropriately made part of a case."

It was not immediately clear when Yates might rule on Gottlieb's request.

Braunstein's next scheduled court appearance is Feb. 23.

He remains under a suicide watch at New York's Bellevue Hospital, though he made a brief appearance in court Friday to enter a not-guilty plea to a 13-count indictment charging him with kidnapping, robbery, burglary and sexual abuse. Prosecutors have said that Braunstein set two fires in the Chelsea apartment building where a 34-year-old woman lived and posed as a firefighter to gain entry to her apartment, where he then allegedly bound and molested her for half a day before fleeing. He was arrested after a six-week manhunt on the campus of the University of Memphis when a woman recognized him from national media reports and summoned campus police. Braunstein stabbed himself in the neck when police approached him.

Gottlieb has said that he may consider an insanity defense for Braunstein.

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