Peter Braunstein
Encyclopedia
Peter Braunstein is a former New York City
-based journalist, writer, and playwright who became infamous for committing an October 31, 2005 sexual assault
and leading police on a multi-state manhunt
until his capture and self-injury in Memphis, Tennessee
on December 16, 2005.
Dubbed the "halloween
rapist", the "fake firefighter
", "fire fiend", and other names by the media, Braunstein became the most wanted
man in New York City, a dubious honor often reserved for murderers, mobsters, or terrorists. Braunstein formerly worked as a writer for Women's Wear Daily
and The Village Voice
, and his former colleagues avidly followed the case on blog
s.
His trial in May 2007 drew a lot of media attention. It lasted four weeks, during which the victim testified
at length about the attack, a former girlfriend testified about their relationship and excerpts from Braunstein's journal were read into the record. Defense lawyers tried to argue diminished capacity
, claiming Braunstein suffered an organic brain
disorder with effects similar to paranoid schizophrenia that made him delusion
al and incapable of intent. The jury
was not convinced, and convicted
him of 10 counts of kidnapping, burglary, robbery and sexual abuse. He was acquitted on the charge of arson
.
, Queens
. His father was a Manhattan
gallery owner. Braunstein studied abroad at Sorbonne
in Paris
and is fluent in French
. He came back to New York to pursue a PhD
degree in History
from NYU
.
In 2000, he got a job at W magazine, writing mostly about the history and culture of rock music
. He also freelanced for the publications mentioned above.
He began dating his coworker, W beauty editor Jane Larkworthy. After breaking up with her, Braunstein started using the magazine's website as a blog to harass his ex-girlfriend, whom he referred to as "BioHazard". He was charged with 37 counts of harassment, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three years probation. According to the victim, Braunstein harassed her for 18 months, taped her hands to a chair, sent frightening emails and phone messages to her coworkers and family, and posted her naked photos and personal information on an adult web site. On November 22, 2004, Braunstein cut his own chest with a knife and then claimed his ex-girlfriend attacked him. He was taken by the police to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and released after two hours.
Various parsings of these events had him suffering from what could be described as delusions of grandeur
and paranoia
. He went back to live with his mother in Queens
, which earned him the nickname "George Costanza
" among his associates. In 2004 he wrote the off-off-broadway
play Andy & Edie
about the relationship between Andy Warhol
and Edie Sedgwick
. Although it played to full houses at the relatively small Shetler Studio Theater, the piece wasn't well received by critics or audiences. He stopped talking to his father after he made a negative comment about the play.
Braunstein also came up with a hit list of "gay men" whom he wanted to "punish."
building where his victim lived. He then knocked on the door of the 34-year old woman's apartment and told her he was there to check for smoke damage. As soon as the victim let him in, the man shoved a chloroform
-laced rag into her face. For the next 13 hours, she went in and out of consciousness while the attacker groped her. The victim told the police that the attacker apparently knew her, although she was not able to identify him. According to her, he videotaped the attack and left with a pair of her shoes.
The police released a sketch of the suspect made with the help of a witness which was identified as Braunstein by his father the next day. Several of his former coworkers also called the police after he allegedly made threatening phone calls to them following the attack. Several days later detectives uncovered more evidence on Braunstein's personal computer, including a detailed plan that described the attack that occurred.
Police have also discovered that Braunstein purchased a voice-altering device on Ebay
five days before the attack.
family, did not fit the typical profile
of a rapist. In fact, at one point he belonged to the same clique of freelance writers who were now following his every step in their blogs. Braunstein also was able to avoid arrest for several weeks while apparently still residing in New York where his photo graced the front pages of most newspapers and footage of the suspect was played on the evening news almost daily. Finally, the timing also coincided with a historic low for NYC crime rates.
The crime quickly became a sensation in the New York area. New developments about the crime have been often featured on the front pages of tabloids like the New York Post
and New York Daily News
, as well as the TV show America's Most Wanted
. It was revealed that the suspect had an interest in pornography
and was "extremely intelligent and talented, with an IQ of 185". This "evil genius
" aspect of the crime only fueled the public fascination with it.
Other details uncovered by the media included the fact that Braunstein was contemplating stalking
supermodel Kate Moss
.
He has also been followed in great detail by gossip blog
s such as Gawker, with the editor Jessica Coen going as far as creating a special Peter Braunstein section to document her findings. Even Craigslist
had a hand in the story, as lengthy, elaborate posts from an anonymous source speculated about his whereabouts.
coffee shop in Brooklyn. The shop's owner recognized the suspect and alerted two policemen nearby. The blocks surrounding the area were quickly filled with dozens of police officers, some wearing riot gear, as well as the news media. Around 1:30 p.m., a police bloodhound
who had been given a pillow recovered at the scene of the sexual assault picked up a scent and tracked it two blocks to an abandoned building. Police forces stormed the building but found no evidence of the suspect. Throughout the day, posters were hung up in the area offering a reward of $12,000 for information leading to the capture of Braunstein.
He was captured on December 16, 2005, in Memphis
, Tennessee
around 3:30 p.m. A University of Memphis
student saw him and notified police. As the police moved in, he reportedly shouted, "I am the man the world is looking for" (although other sources have reported slightly different accounts of his words).
Braunstein then stabbed himself three times in the neck. After recovery from surgery, he was transferred to New York custody and on December 23, 2005, a grand jury indicted him for the Halloween attack; he was arraigned
on January 5, 2006, and pleaded "Not Guilty" to charges of sexual abuse
, arson
, kidnapping
, burglary
, and robbery
.
On Christmas Day, the New York Post reported that Braunstein had been working at Xavier High School, a prominent New York all-boys private school. His employment was mere archiving work and had no direct contact with any students. The day before the attack, he told the school he was leaving for "an extended writing assignment". The day after the attack, he returned to Xavier to cash a paycheck
. English teacher and Rugby
coach, Michael Tolkin, said that Braunstein "kept to himself." The day before the article was run, December 24, Xavier parents received letters from the school telling them of Braunstein's employment and explained that there was no need for any concern.
, written in the months before the crime, in which he said that God
had intended him for the purpose of working justice upon those who sinned. The jury was ultimately allowed to hear only an excerpt in which he pondered killing Vogue
editor Anna Wintour
. "She will be escorted by eunuch
s to a place in hell run by large rats", he declared. He recounted how she had, unlike other prominent fashion editors, never deigned to speak to him on the phone. He also ranted about Sex and the City
creator Darren Star
and Larkworthy.
His defense tried to argue that he had a brain
dysfunction that left him unable to distinguish fantasy and reality, that during the assault he had been living in the former. His lawyers put a psychologist on the stand as an expert witness
, and tried to show when cross-examining
Larkworthy that he was displaying similar symptoms even then.
The jury
convicted Braunstein of kidnapping, sexual abuse (known as sexual assault in some other jurisdictions), robbery, and several other felonies on May 23, 2007 (but acquitting him of arson since they found he had not set the fire to cause damage to the building, only as a diversion). The panel deliberated less than four hours. On June 18, 2007, Braunstein was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
television
show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, I Like to Watch, which aired March 9, 2006. In this episode, a serial rapist poses as a firefighter, setting small blazes to gain entry to apartments, where he drugs women and sexually assaults them, focusing on their feet.
Braunstein's case also inspired a subplot in the comic book Ex Machina
.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based journalist, writer, and playwright who became infamous for committing an October 31, 2005 sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
and leading police on a multi-state manhunt
Manhunt (law enforcement)
In law enforcement, a manhunt is a search for a dangerous fugitive involving the use of all available police units and technology and sometimes help from the public....
until his capture and self-injury in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
on December 16, 2005.
Dubbed the "halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
rapist", the "fake firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
", "fire fiend", and other names by the media, Braunstein became the most wanted
Most Wanted
*Lists used by law enforcement agencies to alert the public, such as:**FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives**FBI Most Wanted Terrorists**United States Secret Service Most Wanted Fugitives**U.S...
man in New York City, a dubious honor often reserved for murderers, mobsters, or terrorists. Braunstein formerly worked as a writer for Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily is a fashion-industry trade journal sometimes called "the bible of fashion." WWD delivers information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the fashion, beauty and retail industries with a readership composed largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers,...
and The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, and his former colleagues avidly followed the case on blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s.
His trial in May 2007 drew a lot of media attention. It lasted four weeks, during which the victim testified
Testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
at length about the attack, a former girlfriend testified about their relationship and excerpts from Braunstein's journal were read into the record. Defense lawyers tried to argue diminished capacity
Diminished Capacity
Diminished Capacity is a comedy film directed by Terry Kinney and starring Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, and Alan Alda. It was released at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters in July 2008...
, claiming Braunstein suffered an organic brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
disorder with effects similar to paranoid schizophrenia that made him delusion
Delusion
A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...
al and incapable of intent. The jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
was not convinced, and convicted
Conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal...
him of 10 counts of kidnapping, burglary, robbery and sexual abuse. He was acquitted on the charge of arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
.
Biography
Peter Braunstein was born to Alberto and Angele Braunstein in Kew GardensKew Gardens, Queens
Kew Gardens is a triangular-shaped neighborhood in central Queens bounded to the north by the Jackie Robinson Parkway , to the east by Van Wyck Expressway and 131st Street, to the south by Hillside Avenue, and to the west by Park Lane, Abingdon Road and 118th Street...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. His father was a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
gallery owner. Braunstein studied abroad at Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and is fluent in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. He came back to New York to pursue a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
from NYU
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
In 2000, he got a job at W magazine, writing mostly about the history and culture of rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. He also freelanced for the publications mentioned above.
He began dating his coworker, W beauty editor Jane Larkworthy. After breaking up with her, Braunstein started using the magazine's website as a blog to harass his ex-girlfriend, whom he referred to as "BioHazard". He was charged with 37 counts of harassment, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three years probation. According to the victim, Braunstein harassed her for 18 months, taped her hands to a chair, sent frightening emails and phone messages to her coworkers and family, and posted her naked photos and personal information on an adult web site. On November 22, 2004, Braunstein cut his own chest with a knife and then claimed his ex-girlfriend attacked him. He was taken by the police to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and released after two hours.
Various parsings of these events had him suffering from what could be described as delusions of grandeur
Delusions of Grandeur
Delusions of Grandeur is an album by Fleming and John that was released in 1995.-Track listing:# "I'm Not Afraid" — 3:13# "Break The Circles" — 3:01# "Delusions Of Grandeur" — 3:45# "Love Songs" — 4:33# "Letters In My Head" — 3:56...
and paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
. He went back to live with his mother in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, which earned him the nickname "George Costanza
George Costanza
George Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...
" among his associates. In 2004 he wrote the off-off-broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
play Andy & Edie
Andy & Edie
Andy & Edie was a 2004 off-off-Broadway play starring Thomas Blake as Andy Warhol and Misha Moore as Edie Sedgwick. Written by Peter Braunstein, the play was directed by Jessica Rotondi and ran from June 3 through June 13, 2004.Set design by Kara Zeigon....
about the relationship between Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
and Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
. Although it played to full houses at the relatively small Shetler Studio Theater, the piece wasn't well received by critics or audiences. He stopped talking to his father after he made a negative comment about the play.
Braunstein also came up with a hit list of "gay men" whom he wanted to "punish."
Halloween attack
On October 31, 2005, a man wearing a New York City Fire Department uniform set two small fires in the lobby of a ChelseaChelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
building where his victim lived. He then knocked on the door of the 34-year old woman's apartment and told her he was there to check for smoke damage. As soon as the victim let him in, the man shoved a chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
-laced rag into her face. For the next 13 hours, she went in and out of consciousness while the attacker groped her. The victim told the police that the attacker apparently knew her, although she was not able to identify him. According to her, he videotaped the attack and left with a pair of her shoes.
The police released a sketch of the suspect made with the help of a witness which was identified as Braunstein by his father the next day. Several of his former coworkers also called the police after he allegedly made threatening phone calls to them following the attack. Several days later detectives uncovered more evidence on Braunstein's personal computer, including a detailed plan that described the attack that occurred.
Police have also discovered that Braunstein purchased a voice-altering device on Ebay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
five days before the attack.
Media reaction
The crime received a great amount of media attention for a number of reasons. Peter Braunstein, a well-educated writer and journalist from an upper-middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
family, did not fit the typical profile
Offender profiling
Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to help investigators to profile unknown criminal subjects or offenders. Offender profiling is also known as criminal profiling, criminal personality profiling, criminological profiling,...
of a rapist. In fact, at one point he belonged to the same clique of freelance writers who were now following his every step in their blogs. Braunstein also was able to avoid arrest for several weeks while apparently still residing in New York where his photo graced the front pages of most newspapers and footage of the suspect was played on the evening news almost daily. Finally, the timing also coincided with a historic low for NYC crime rates.
The crime quickly became a sensation in the New York area. New developments about the crime have been often featured on the front pages of tabloids like the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
and New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, as well as the TV show America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted
America's Most Wanted is an American television program produced by 20th Television, and was the longest-running program of any kind in the history of the Fox Television Network until it was announced on May 16, 2011 that the series was canceled after twenty-three years, with the final episode...
. It was revealed that the suspect had an interest in pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and was "extremely intelligent and talented, with an IQ of 185". This "evil genius
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
" aspect of the crime only fueled the public fascination with it.
Other details uncovered by the media included the fact that Braunstein was contemplating stalking
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
supermodel Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
.
He has also been followed in great detail by gossip blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s such as Gawker, with the editor Jessica Coen going as far as creating a special Peter Braunstein section to document her findings. Even Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
had a hand in the story, as lengthy, elaborate posts from an anonymous source speculated about his whereabouts.
Manhunt and capture
On November 17, 2005, Braunstein was spotted at a local Cobble HillCobble Hill, Brooklyn
Cobble Hill is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. Bordered by Atlantic Avenue on the north, Hicks Street to the west, Smith Street on the east and Degraw Street to the south, Cobble Hill sits adjacent to Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights with Carroll Gardens to the south...
coffee shop in Brooklyn. The shop's owner recognized the suspect and alerted two policemen nearby. The blocks surrounding the area were quickly filled with dozens of police officers, some wearing riot gear, as well as the news media. Around 1:30 p.m., a police bloodhound
Bloodhound
The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...
who had been given a pillow recovered at the scene of the sexual assault picked up a scent and tracked it two blocks to an abandoned building. Police forces stormed the building but found no evidence of the suspect. Throughout the day, posters were hung up in the area offering a reward of $12,000 for information leading to the capture of Braunstein.
He was captured on December 16, 2005, in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
around 3:30 p.m. A University of Memphis
University of Memphis
The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system....
student saw him and notified police. As the police moved in, he reportedly shouted, "I am the man the world is looking for" (although other sources have reported slightly different accounts of his words).
Braunstein then stabbed himself three times in the neck. After recovery from surgery, he was transferred to New York custody and on December 23, 2005, a grand jury indicted him for the Halloween attack; he was arraigned
Arraignment
Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal complaint in the presence of the defendant to inform the defendant of the charges against him or her. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea...
on January 5, 2006, and pleaded "Not Guilty" to charges of sexual abuse
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
, arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
, kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, burglary
Burglary
Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
, and robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
.
On Christmas Day, the New York Post reported that Braunstein had been working at Xavier High School, a prominent New York all-boys private school. His employment was mere archiving work and had no direct contact with any students. The day before the attack, he told the school he was leaving for "an extended writing assignment". The day after the attack, he returned to Xavier to cash a paycheck
Paycheck
Paycheck can also refer to:* Paycheck , short story by science fiction author Philip K. Dick* Paycheck , film adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story starring Ben Affleck...
. English teacher and Rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
coach, Michael Tolkin, said that Braunstein "kept to himself." The day before the article was run, December 24, Xavier parents received letters from the school telling them of Braunstein's employment and explained that there was no need for any concern.
Trial
Braunstein's trial in May 2007 in State Supreme Court in Manhattan was covered closely by the New York media. His victim testified at length about the assault, and Larkworthy recalled on the stand how Braunstein had played out elements of the crime when the two were together. Prosecutors disclosed Braunstein's personal manifestoManifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
, written in the months before the crime, in which he said that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
had intended him for the purpose of working justice upon those who sinned. The jury was ultimately allowed to hear only an excerpt in which he pondered killing Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
editor Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour, OBE is the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue, a position she has held since 1988. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and sunglasses, Wintour has become an institution throughout the fashion world, widely praised for her eye for fashion trends and her support for...
. "She will be escorted by eunuch
Eunuch
A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
s to a place in hell run by large rats", he declared. He recounted how she had, unlike other prominent fashion editors, never deigned to speak to him on the phone. He also ranted about Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
creator Darren Star
Darren Star
Darren Bennett Star is an American producer, director and writer for film and television. He is best known for creating the hit TV shows Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Sex and the City.-Career:...
and Larkworthy.
His defense tried to argue that he had a brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
dysfunction that left him unable to distinguish fantasy and reality, that during the assault he had been living in the former. His lawyers put a psychologist on the stand as an expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
, and tried to show when cross-examining
Cross-examination
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination and may be followed by a redirect .- Variations by Jurisdiction :In...
Larkworthy that he was displaying similar symptoms even then.
The jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
convicted Braunstein of kidnapping, sexual abuse (known as sexual assault in some other jurisdictions), robbery, and several other felonies on May 23, 2007 (but acquitting him of arson since they found he had not set the fire to cause damage to the building, only as a diversion). The panel deliberated less than four hours. On June 18, 2007, Braunstein was sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
In popular culture
This case is the inspiration for an episode of the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, I Like to Watch, which aired March 9, 2006. In this episode, a serial rapist poses as a firefighter, setting small blazes to gain entry to apartments, where he drugs women and sexually assaults them, focusing on their feet.
Braunstein's case also inspired a subplot in the comic book Ex Machina
Ex Machina (comics)
Ex Machina is an American creator-owned comic book series created by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris, and published by DC Comics under the Wildstorm imprint....
.
External links
- Braunstein's Capture and Conviction from America's Most Wanted - May 23, 2007
- Peter Braunstein's arrest - December 16, 2005
- Braunstein's "manifesto."
- America's Most Wanted Profile for Peter Braunstein
- Gawker.com coverage
- The Dark Side: The Hunt for Peter Braunstein
- 'Kinky' writer sought - The Daily News. November 4, 2005
- Detective work tracks suspect - Dawn EdenDawn EdenDawn Eden is an American author and journalist who was formerly a rock historian and tabloid-newspaper headline writer...
. The Daily News, November 13, 2005 - When Bloggers Joke About the Unfunny - David Carr. The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, November 14, 2005 - Sex Assault Suspect Came In for Coffee, Brooklyn Shop Owner Says - Kareem Fahim. The New York Times. November 18, 2005
- Fashion Writer Is Wanted in NYC Assault - Tom Hays. The Associated Press. November 18, 2005
- Braunstein's work on GettingIt.com.
- "Disco" Braunstein's free-lance work American Heritage magazineAmerican Heritage (magazine)American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
. Article is on the history of Disco.