Katuria D'Amato acts as own attorney in court battle with former senator

The child custody fight between former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and his estranged wife took a strange turn Thursday when she began acting as her own attorney during the divorcing couple's long-standing courtroom battle in Mineola.

Katuria D’Amato, 53, first took the witness stand to answer questions during cross-examination.

But later, the Lido Beach woman, who is an attorney, returned to the same seat to make a statement as her own lawyer on “redirect” — in effect, answering questions she was asking herself.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Lorintz said Katuria D’Amato’s statements had to be in “narrative form” because of the circumstances, but warned she only could address topics she had been confronted with during cross-examination.

The proceeding also was unusual in that it marked Katuria D’Amato’s first time trying a case in a legal career in which she has done corporate work and clerked for federal judges. Lorintz removed her last attorney from the case.

The former senator’s attorney, Stephen Gassman of Garden City, called it “rare” for any party in such a legal case to act as his or her own legal representative.

In her testimony, Katuria D'Amato accused her estranged husband of having their young son help him plant hidden audio devices in the couple’s former marital home — purportedly to record her.

The attorney said it happened in the months before a 911 response to the Lido Beach residence in September 2017 that kicked off the couple’s court fight.

“I saw it on the security cameras,” Katuria D’Amato said, speaking of one such device the size of a thumb drive she allegedly saw in her son’s hand while reviewing video from the home’s surveillance system.

However, Alfonse D’Amato swiftly denied the allegation while leaving the courtroom during a break in the proceedings.

“She is lying,” he declared.

Gassman also called Katuria D’Amato’s claim about the audio devices false, saying it “confirms the delusional aspect that every police officer talked about” in connection with their encounter with the woman.

In 2017, Lorintz awarded the ex-senator temporary custody of the D’Amatos’ son, now 10, and daughter, now 9, following that police response.

Alfonse D’Amato, 81, had appealed for child custody while questioning his estranged spouse’s mental stability.

Authorities hospitalized Katuria D’Amato on an involuntary basis after going to the home, an encounter sparked by what she testified was her call about a possible home intrusion.

Nassau County police testified last year at proceedings in the case that the woman was “delusional” at the time, saying she believed the former senator would let into the home intruders who hid behind laser beams.

Katuria D’Amato also told police she hid in a closet of the residence and unsuccessfully tried to load a shotgun before calling 911, according to prior police testimony.

Police also had testified that she said she had been unable to load that 20-gauge shotgun because she couldn’t find the key to the gun lock.

But Thursday, Katuria D’Amato insisted in her testimony that the idea she told someone she saw a laser was “preposterous.”

She also denied ever trying to get the shotgun out — saying it was “brand-new” and in a box, the weapon secured with a gun lock, when police arrived.

Katuria D’Amato sat alone Thursday in court at a table across from the table where the former senator sat with his two attorneys. But she wasn’t without support, as her former attorney, Thomas Liotti, watched from the courtroom’s gallery and took notes.

The judge kicked Liotti off the child custody and divorce case in October, ruling he “acted against the best interests” of the D’Amato children in April while driving them and their mother to another client’s home.

Liotti had argued unsuccessfully that he had been trying to foil an alleged plot targeting his client for arrest as a private investigator working for the ex-senator tailed Katuria D’Amato.