New York woman, 28, sentenced to 8½ years in prison in fatal shoving of 87-year-old singing coach

A 28-year-old former event planner, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August, has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for the unprovoked shoving of an 87-year-old Broadway voice coach onto a Manhattan sidewalk last year. 

Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin on Friday added six months to the eight years already agreed upon in Lauren Pazienza’s plea deal, saying she didn’t believe Pazienza had taken responsibility for her actions. 

Pazienza left Barbara Maier Gustern bleeding on a Chelsea sidewalk soon after the woman cracked her head March 10, 2022, as a result of Pazienza's shove. She suffered a "massive hemorrhage" on the left side of her brain and died after five days in a hospital. 

The defendant could have faced 25 years in prison if she hadn’t taken the plea deal and had been found guilty by a jury.

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As part of a plea deal, Pazienza admitted to hurling profanities at Gustern and intentionally shoving her to the ground. Her motive remains unclear.

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Prosecutors previously said the younger woman rushed Gustern on a Chelsea sidewalk, called her a "b----," and knocked her to the ground from behind.

She has been held at the Rikkers Island jail since March 2022 when a judge revoked her bail. 

"Lauren Pazienza aggressively shoved Barbara Gustern to the ground and walked away as the beloved New Yorker lay there bleeding," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement after she pled guilty. "Today’s plea holds Pazienza accountable for her deadly actions."

Gustern was a vocal coach whose clients have included such celebrities as Blondie singer Debbie Harry, as well as Kimilee Bryant, a South Carolinian performer who referred to her former mentor as her "New York mom," and who told Fox News Digital that Gustern and her late husband had taken her in when she arrived in the Big Apple years ago for her first stint on Broadway in "The Phantom of the Opera."

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"We'd really become close, because they really adopted lots of sorts of strays, as they would call us, for holidays because we couldn't go home," she said. "I couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving. We had a show."

Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Democrat senator temporarily held up Senate vote hours before shutdown over Ukraine funding

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet held up the vote on the continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown on Saturday night, citing concerns about its lack of funding for Ukraine, sources tell Fox News.

The holdup came after the House approved the short-term spending bill Saturday afternoon, passing 335-91. It later passed the Senate late Saturday night with 88 yeas to 9 nays.

The bill, whose passage caused members of Congress to applaud amid the pressure of a government shutdown, will fund the government for another 45 days. The bill authorizes $16 billion in disaster relief, but does not include relief to Ukraine — which Bennet, a Democrat, objected to. 

Bennet told reporters that he was still able to make progress across the aisle in regard to giving more aid to Ukraine, which has been warring with Russian troops for a year-and-a-half.

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"It's worked out because we were able to get a statement from the leadership that's going to be released soon, talking about the bipartisan support for fully funding Ukraine and making sure that we fulfill a role that the entire world is relying on us to fulfill," Bennet said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., previously said Saturday afternoon that she expected a "major, major fight on Ukraine."

"And I'm sure you'll hear from the President and the commander-in-chief of how we will make sure there will be uninterrupted aid to Ukraine," Klobuchar said. "That is going to be our number one goal."

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Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters Saturday evening that she expected the Ukraine matter to be resolved before midnight "in order to avoid a shutdown." Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin told Fox News that he didn't know how long it would take for Bennet to agree on the CR.

If the Senate rejected the bill, thousands of federal employees would have been furloughed and "nonessential" government programs would have paused indefinitely.

Fox News Digital reached out to Bennet's office for comment, but has not heard back.

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