NYC ‘sidewalk shover’ Lauren Pazienza was drunk and stoned when she shoved singing coach to death

A woman accused of fatally shoving an 87-year-old Broadway singing coach in Manhattan was drunk and stoned the night of the unprovoked attack, her attorney claimed.

The defense team for Lauren Pazienza, 27, argued on Thursday that she had no control over her actions after drinking two bottles of wine, smoking weed and taking prescription pills before the allegedly fatal push on March 10, 2022.

“She had been on drugs, she had maybe two bottles of wine and a ton of marijuana,” attorney Arthur Aidala claimed outside a Manhattan criminal court.

Pazienza is charged with manslaughter and assault for the unprovoked assault on Barbara Maier Gustern, who fell and hit her head after allegedly being pushed, before dying from her injuries five days later.

Broadway singing coach Barbara Maier Gustern (right) died in a hospital five days after the random shoving attack in March 2022. She is pictured with her grandson AJ

Pazienza, who is the heiress to a large empire draining the cesspool in Long Island, has been held in Rikers Island for more than a year since the apparently senseless attack.

However, Aidala suggested on Thursday that he and Alvin Bragg’s Manhattan District Attorney’s Office could be on the verge of agreeing a plea deal.

In the event that prosecutors fail to offer a “reasonable” deal, Aidala said he believes Pazienza has a strong case if the charges are brought before a jury.

“We have very viable defenses about whether someone in her state was capable of intent, intent to commit crimes,” he said.

“It’s a black letter law that when you’re so drunk, you’re so intoxicated, you can’t have the required intention—that’s a defense.”

“But we don’t want that, we’re trying to solve this case in a way that everyone feels comfortable with.”

Pazienza’s lawyer Arthur Aidala (right) has said his client is about to agree a plea deal. He is pictured with her parents on June 16, 2023

Pazienza’s former classmates describe her as the “poster child for white privilege.” She is pictured attending the AVENUE Magazine 40th Anniversary Party in NYC, in November 2015

According to prosecutors, Pazienza’s fiancée previously revealed that she had drunk “several glasses of wine” before the attack while the couple celebrated their engagement.

When she was told the park was closing, she reportedly flew into a rage and attacked Gustern in the street, pushing the 87-year-old to the ground and calling her a “b****.”

She is said to have then watched as an ambulance crew carried away the frail older woman as blood seeped from her head.

Pazienza, prosecutors allege, then spent the next two weeks trying to cover her tracks. She quit her job, deleted her social media pages, and even hid her cell phone at her aunt’s house in Long Island after fleeing her apartment in Astoria, where she lives with her Microsoft employee fiancé.

After several weeks, she finally turned herself in to the NYPD after police released footage of her as a suspect in the attack.

Police released this footage of Pazienza claiming she was responsible for the attack. She turned herself in two days later

The shocking incident left law enforcement wondering why Pazienza would have carried out the attack, and her defense team said a possible plea deal would be one that would land her behind bars for “quite a long time.”

‘I’m not asking for five years, just to be clear. I’m not asking for probation,’ Aidala said.

“We are aware that something happened here that was a tragedy, that was terrible. Lauren agrees that she should be punished. She’s being punished—she’s on Rikers Island.”

Pazienza, who faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, has been described by former classmates exclusively for DailyMail.com as “pure trouble” and “a danger” prone to violence.

Her former friends said it was “no surprise” that Pazienza was charged with the disturbing crime.

“What angered me the most was when I saw her lawyer say she overcharged and that she is a good and moral person. She’s not,’ someone said.

“I knew her very well at school and she was a real nuisance.”

Seen as a teen on a family vacation, Pazienza appears to have lived a privileged life, later glamorizing New York City high society before ending up behind bars

Pazienza is currently imprisoned on Rikers Island, but grew up in a wealthy family on Long Island and enjoyed the high society of Manhattan. She is seen above in photos from her teenage years

Pazienza’s attorney has said that even if his client pushed Gustern, pushing someone off a sidewalk is not the same as “pushing them off a cliff,” and that the charges against her — including manslaughter — are outrageous.

But according to the former classmate, “She’s the poster child for white privilege.” She never suffered any consequences in her life. She was made possible by her parents who took her out of everything, but she called them stupid and basic.’

An acquaintance also said she tended to mock people and spoke derogatorily, “about fat people and deaf people…everyone.”

Footage shared with DailyMail.com also showed the 27-year-old mocking deaf people as she wrinkled her face and pretended to have a disability, screaming.