State Sen. Hiram Monserrate is not a felon — but he’s still a jerk, a judge ruled yesterday.
The freshman Democrat from Queens was convicted of misdemeanor assault for manhandling his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, but was cleared on the top felony counts and one lesser charge of brutally slashing her face with a broken glass.
Convictions on those charges would have landed him in jail and forced him out of office immediately.
Monserrate, 42, a former cop who served in the City Council before heading to Albany this year, said he was relieved he wasn’t convicted of a “terrible accident” involving a “person I love.”
“There were no winners here today. This has been a humbling experience,” the pugnacious pol said as he left court.
Judge William Erlbaum — who heard the case without a jury — said he could not find Monserrate guilty of any of the charges stemming from the December 2008 slashing in his apartment because Giraldo backed his story that the bloody episode was an accident.
Although she told emergency-room doctors otherwise, the judge said there was no way to prove exactly what happened inside Monserrate’s apartment that night.
“None of the hospital personnel had any personal knowledge of what happened in the apartment — none whatsoever,” Erlbaum said. “There are two types of not-guilty findings. One is innocence, the other is not proven — these counts were not proven.”
Erlbaum did convict Monserrate of third-degree assault for dragging Giraldo through a hallway on their way to the hospital — an ugly scene caught on surveillance video, which undercut her wholehearted defense of her brutish boyfriend.
Giraldo was not present in court because an order of protection remains in effect.
While that conviction could still put him behind bars for a year, Monserrate’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said he thought it unlikely when they return for sentencing on Dec. 4.
While Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said he did not find fault with Erlbaum’s verdict, he lashed out against any notion that this was a victory for Monserrate.
“I don’t think he should be thrilled at all,” he said. “The videotape on this case was very damning.”
Public opinion notwithstanding, Monserrate’s political future brightened with his acquittal on the felony charges. A conviction would have forced him out of office by state law.
He still may face efforts by Republicans to expel him from the Democratic-led Senate, but some of his party members said they would stand behind him.
“He is keeping his position. It’s a misdemeanor,” said Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., who was in court for the verdict along with Sen. Eric Adams. “Nothing is going to happen to his Senate seat.”
But Democratic Councilman Eric Gioia said there was no place in the party for “people who commit such heinous crimes against women.”