Man suspected of posing as NYC firefighter, abusing woman is declared competent for trial

A writer accused of posing as a city firefighter and sexually abusing a woman was declared medically fit for trial despite three skull fractures, a judge said.

Defense lawyers had sought to delay the trial, since Peter Braunstein has bleeding on the brain that causes headaches. Correction officers have said he deliberately banged his head on a sink, and prosecutors say they doubt the headaches are as severe as he claims.

Lawyers on both sides had agreed Braunstein was mentally fit for trial, but State Supreme Court Justice James Yates, who held the hearing Wednesday, had wanted to know whether the skull injuries had left the defendant physically unable to participate.

Attorney Robert Gottlieb said he would present evidence at trial that Braunstein was mentally ill at the time of the attack on the woman and should not be held criminally responsible for it.

Braunstein, 42, is accused of sexually abusing a 34-year-old former Women's Wear Daily co-worker in her Manhattan apartment for 13 hours starting Halloween night 2005.

The defendant wore a firefighter's outfit and set a fire in the hall outside the woman's apartment before banging on her door, prosecutors said. He was on the run for six weeks before being captured.

Braunstein was arrested Dec. 16, 2005, on the University of Memphis campus in Tennessee. He stabbed himself in the neck several times in an apparent suicide attempt as a campus policeman approached while pointing a gun at him.

Braunstein has pleaded not guilty to arson, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, sexual abuse and assault charges. Jury selection could begin next week.