By Katherine Ramsland

June 19, 2007

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While awaiting his sentencing hearing, Peter Braunstein, who posed as a firefighter to gain entrance to a woman's apartment before assaulting her, composed a lengthy letter to Judge Thomas Farber. He then sent it, hoping it would have a mitigating effect on the outcome of his case.

Convicted in May of ten counts in the October 31, 2005 sexual assault and burglary, Braunstein had claimed through his attorney that he was mentally ill and did not appreciate what he was doing that night. Facing a maximum sentence of 25 years to life, in the letter he argued for a case for leniency. He hoped for the minimum of fifteen years.

Peter Braunstein

The crudely-handwritten note, which Braunstein dictated to a fellow inmate because his hands shook from medication, maintains the theme argued by his forensic experts, that Braunstein suffered from untreated paranoid schizophrenia. He goes into issues involved with an antiquated legal system that misunderstands mental illness, as well as the lack of consensus on mental illness and criminal intent in the psychiatric community — something he thought the jury failed to fully consider. Given how little time they'd deliberated, they could not have grappled with the thorny philosophical issues involved.

Flattering the judge with his perception that Farber was "fair and circumspect," Braunstein promises to be a model prisoner. He believes he can achieve this because "I spent the first forty-one years of my life until 2005 crime free until my psyche burst apart and suicide became my organizing principle." He asks the judge not to be influenced by "sensationalist" media coverage and then raises two issues he thinks are germane to his sentencing. One was that a lesser sentence would allow him to seek the right medical treatment for his condition. The other involved an assessment of the media's "creative" exaggerations of his past history — especially of abusing women. He thought it was possible that the general public did not share the media's "premodern" understanding of the mentally ill or its hyped-up outrage and cited several examples of reporting he considered fabrications.

Braunstein admitted that he had indeed planned the crime, as the prosecutor claimed, but had not intended harm and had not really planned what to do once he'd entered the victim's apartment. "I had no motive or intent," which he argued was indicative of "the madness." To his mind, it was "more like an improvised pantomime of a crime," except that it had effects on the victim that he now finds deplorable. He said stealing items of the victim's clothing was merely a "whim" and he'd had no intention to rape or kill her.

On June 18, 2007, Braunstein appeared before the judge, who gave no indication ahead of time as to what he might say. While sources are conflicting, most indicate that Farber sentenced Braunstein to 20 years to life (some reports indicate it was 18 years to life). He believed the crime had been intentional and that Braunstein was consumed with narcissistic rage. No sentence, he added, could undo the effects on the victim. 

Alberto Braunstein

Outside the courtroom, Braunstein's father, who attended the hearing, told reporters the sentence was too harsh, but defense attorney Robert Gottlieb thought it was fair. The victim had declined to be present.

It's likely that Braunstein's letter will be further dissected for signs of the illness he claims to have; while it's organized and logical, and thus not obviously evident of chaotic reasoning, it's possible that medication has allowed him to think more clearly about his situation. Gottlieb has indicated as much, saying that Braunstein cannot now, in retrospect, explain to himself why he committed the crimes. 

By Katherine Ramsland

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