She dodged a bullet.
The Queens woman who shot her older boyfriend in the face — and then had him testify in her defense with the bullet still lodged near his spine — beat an attempted murder rap today when a judge bought her lover man’s testimony.
Evelyn Barnave, 43, cried tears of joy and said, “Thank you, Judge,” when she was found not guilty of attempted murder for shooting Randy Costa, of Brooklyn, during a 2011 argument. She faced 25 years behind bars if convicted at the non-jury trial.
Costa, 59, shocked officials when he recanted his initial accusation, changing his story to claim the shooting was an accident — and then testified in his lover’s defense.
“We love each other,” Costa told The Post during the trial. “I’m just hoping they drop this order of protection so we can get married … We feel they should get out of the way and let us be.”
Judge Matthew D’Emic did find Barnave guilty in the bench trial of one count of reckless assault, a class D felony for which she could get anything from no-prison and probation to seven years behind bars.
The fiery gunwoman was also hit with three counts of criminal contempt for ignoring an order of protection that forbid her from seeing Costa.
But the judge cited Costa’s unusual testimony on behalf of Barnave to explain his not guilty verdict on the top count.
“[Costa] testified that he tried to grab the gun and it discharged in his face. In essence, he testified that it was an accident,” D’Emic said. “The intent to harm has not been found.”
While lovebirds Barnave and Costa claimed during the trial the shooting was an accident, their statements to investigators immediately after the shooting told a different story.
In a handwritten statement made the day she shot her boyfriend, Barnave said Costa was trying to punch her through the car window as the couple fought over their joint checking account.
Costa also accused Barnave of shooting him in a hospital bed statement he made to cops just after the shooting.
“Hopefully now they can live their lives together,” said defense attorney Paul Hirsch. “If there was no order of protection, they’d be married tomorrow.”
Additional reporting by Candace Amos