“Intimate” pictures and video connected to the “fake fire fiend” sex attack must be turned over to defense lawyers, a judge ordered yesterday – despite prosecutors’ concerns that copies might wind up in the wrong hands.
The images depict the woman allegedly held prisoner and assaulted in her Chelsea home last Halloween by Peter Braunstein, a 41-year-old former fashion writer.
It’s unclear whether the pictures were taken by investigators to catalog the victim’s injuries, or by Braunstein himself as a sick trophy.
But they were sensitive enough that lead prosecutor Maxine Rosenthal had hoped to keep them entirely in her own possession – letting defense lawyers see them, but not take copies.
But defense lawyer Robert Gottlieb volunteered that he would agree to any restriction concerning not copying or “publishing” the images, and would be happy to return the images when the case concludes.