Former New York fashion writer Peter Braunstein, 43, was sentenced to 18 years to life Monday for sexually assaulting an ex-colleague on Halloween 2005.
The charges stemmed from an incident in which Braunstein tricked his way into a former co-worker's apartment by igniting smoke bombs and posing as a fire fighter. Once inside, he subdued her with chloroform, tied her to a bed and sexually abused her for almost 13 hours.
Braunstein fled New York in hopes of making it to New Orleans to lead an angry gang of hurricane Katrina survivors, a psychologist testified in court. In a journal he kept, Braunstein describes wandering around Tennessee posing as a Katrina Victim.
About six weeks after the assault, tips came in that Braunstein had been seen in The University of Memphis area. On Dec. 16, 2005, the fugitive was spotted on the University of Memphis campus in front of the Panhellenic building near Rawls Hall.
When a U of M police officer approached him and ordered him to stop, Braunstein began stabbing himself repeatedly in the neck.
A junior business and finance major witnessed the whole dramatic incident.
"I've never seen anything like that in my life," Jessica Robertson told The Daily Helmsman in December 2005. "There was blood everywhere, and he fell on the ground. Everyone thought he was dead."
When Braunstein refused to listen to the officer's demand, police used pepper spray to subdue him.
"It was one of the scariest things I've witnessed," Robertson said.
Memphis police dropped the charges of aggravated assault on an officer and weapons violation for possessing a gun on school grounds, and Braunstein was extradited to New York City on Dec. 19, 2005.
Although his attorney conceded that the writer attacked the woman, Braunstein pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, burglary, sexual abuse and robbery. His defense claimed that Braunstein is mentally ill.
