FLASHBACK: How yesterday’s Post covered the trial, including testimony by slap victim Dr. Catherine London. (Steven Hirsch)
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Justice is served!
A Manhattan judge yesterday took only 15 minutes to acquit opera singer Marcella Caprario of all charges in a wacky, diva-on-doctor slapdown over a frozen vegan pad-Thai dinner at a crowded Upper West Side Trader Joe’s.
The verdict, by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge ShawnDya Simpson, means prosecutors failed to prove the mezzo soprano intended to cause injury when she slapped family practitioner and TV talking head Dr. Catherine London in the face during an argument in the frozen-food aisle in January.
The frosty fracas — so New York-kooky that it was covered in both local and national media after The Post broke the story exclusively — was sparked when the doctor’s 13-year-old son got between Caprario’s husband and the store-brand frozen vegan pad-Thai dinners, Caprario’s favorite.
“I was worried the whole time, because you don’t know what’s going to happen” at trial, said Caprario, 37, of Inwood, smiling broadly moments after the verdict. “I told the truth the whole time, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be believed!”
The freelance opera singer had insisted from the start that the doctor had rushed at her in the frozen-food aisle while making “animal-like” faces — and needed slapping.
Earlier this week, Caprario had been offered one day of community service if she copped to a reduced charge of attempted assault, but she wasn’t going to plead guilty if she wasn’t guilty, explained her lawyer, Mark Bederow.
“The real losers here are the New York City taxpayers,” Bederow said. “It’s a case that never should have been prosecuted.”
London practices at the Iris Cantor Women’s Health Center on the Upper East Side and has appeared as an expert on the Joy Behar show, CNN and Fox television.
The doctor had claimed on the witness stand yesterday that Caprario’s husband, Bill, had started everything by “screaming” at her son for being pushy as the two jostled in the jam-packed store to get to a frozen-food case.
When she asked politely that Bill stop, the singer called the doctor and both her teen sons “New York rude,” started cursing up a blue streak and slapped her out of nowhere, the doctor had testified.
The single slap caused a medical compendium’s worth of injuries, the doctor had announced on the witness stand — including “ecchymosis” and “petechiae” on her face.
Caprario countered that yes, she had cursed at the doctor — “Get the f–k out of my face” was the wording she recalled — and she had slapped her, but only after the doctor got nose-to-nose with her.
“After she rushed at me she began making grimaces and moving her head in a strange, animal-like manner,” the singer had testified.
“Her intent was to get Dr. London away after she repeatedly came at her, face to face, nose to nose . . . in a threatening way,” the lawyer said in closing arguments yesterday.
The ordeal hasn’t soured Caprario and her hubby on the popular grocery chain, she said.
“We go every week — we love Trader Joe’s!” Caprario said.