Lauren Pazienza pleads guilty to manslaughter in NYC sidewalk shove that killed voice coach Barbara Gustern

Former Port Jefferson resident Lauren Pazienza tearfully pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing famed 87-year-old voice coach Barbara Gustern by shoving her down on a Manhattan sidewalk in March 2022.

Pazienza, 28, who had been living in Astoria with her fiance at the time of the incident, took a deal under a plea bargain of first-degree manslaughter before Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin.

Under a deal struck with prosecutors and defense attorney Arthur Aidala, Pazienza, who has already been in jail since the spring of 2022, the defendant faces eight years in prison. Legal experts said she could be free in about five years due to time served and good behavior.

Dressed in a loose fitting sweatshirt, khaki pants and sporting red lipstick, Pazienza, who had once worked as an event planner, answered with a simple “yes” when asked by Mennin if she was pleading to the manslaughter charge. Just before entering the plea, Pazienza asked for moment to confer with Aidala and then accepted the deal.

Many of Gustern’s friends and students, as well as her grandson A.J. Maier Gustern, attended the plea hearing.

As Pazienza left the courtroom to go back into a holding cell, she turned to look back at her parents. Daniel and Caroline Pazienza of Port Jefferson exited the courtroom with Aidala and didn’t comment while holding hands as the courthouse elevator door closed. Aidala didn’t return calls for comment.

Pazienza had faced as much as 25 years for the top manslaughter charge. Earlier in the case, prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had reportedly offered her a plea bargain of 17 years, which Aidala quickly rejected.

But after a defense expert earlier this year raised the issue of Pazienza’s heavy drinking and impaired mental state just before the incident, weeks of plea negotiations began, resulting in agreement on the eight-year sentence.

By pleading to the manslaughter charge, Pazienza admitted that she had intended to injure Gustern and then caused her death. Sentencing will be on September 29.

Outside the courtroom, Gustern’s grandson said he was not happy with the sentence and did not forgive Pazienza.

“I am personally disappointed with the plea deal, I would have liked to see her go to trial, or get a harsher sentence,” said Maier Gustern. “She is very lucky."

The grandson, who lives in Colorado, said Pazienza took more than a life. "She has taken away a second home, a voice teacher to myself and hundreds if not thousands of students."

In a statement, Bragg said the plea deal held Pazienza accountable for what she did on March 10, 2022, when she “aggressively shoved Barbara Gustern to the ground and walked away as the beloved New Yorker lay there bleeding.”

Bragg called Gustern "a talented musical theater performer and vocal coach who touched so many in New York City and beyond.”

According to the original charges in the case, Pazienza gave Gustern a forceful shove as the elderly woman was on her way to a concert nearby.

Gustern fell, striking her head but was conscious enough to recall that her attacker had called her a “bitch” as she was shoved. Gustern lingered in hospital for days before dying from a head injury on March 15, 2022.

According to investigators, Pazienza and her fiance had traveled to Manhattan to celebrate their upcoming wedding, scheduled for June 2022.

The events unfolded as Pazienza and her fiance planned to visit some Chelsea art galleries, investigators said. Pazienza had several glasses of wine, after which she and her fiance went to a nearby park to eat meals they bought from a food cart, prosecutors said.

But after a park worker said the couple had to leave, Pazienza became angry and stalked out of the park without her fiance, police said. 

It was while walking down 28th Street that Pazienza crossed the road and shoved Gustern, according to police.           

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.