A renowned German violinist, charged Thursday with attempted murder for breaking into a tourist’s Manhattan hotel room and strangling her, blamed the sordid incident on a prostitute, his lawyer said.
Stefan Arzberger, 42, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, assault and strangulation raps in Manhattan Supreme Court for barging into a North Carolina woman’s room at the Hudson Hotel and choking her.
“I’ve never seen a strangulation case like this before,” said prosecutor Samuel Cocks. “He nearly killed a 64-year-old woman.”
But his lawyer insisted that it wasn’t Arzberger’s fault but the transexual hooker who drugged and robbed him.
“He’s not a criminal – he’s the victim of a crime,” said defense lawyer Richard Levitt as the maestro’s wife looked on tearfully from the gallery. “Mr Arzberger was poisoned by a date rape type drug. There’s no other explanation for what happened that night”
Hudson Hotel video surveillance shows the lead violinist of the Leipzig String Quartet going to his room accompanied by a woman at 3:53 am
The same woman is then seen leaving the room alone with his iPad under her arm, Levitt said.
About three hours later, a wild-eyed and naked Arzberger stumbled out of his room at the West 58th Street hotel and began mindlessly knocking on guests’ doors claiming to be room service, the prosecutor said.
When the victim opened her door, he wrapped his hands around her neck with so much pressure the blood vessels in her eyes popped, he said.
“It [the prostitute] was not actually a woman for starters,” said Cocks. “What the video shows is the defendant perfectly willing to go up in the elevator to his hotel room with a woman who is not his wife and is a known prostitute. Forty minutes later she comes down with his iPad.”
“It will not be first time and won’t be the last a prostitute rolled a john in NYC – it happens all the time,” the prosecutor said. “Most of the time they don’t drug the johns to do it.”
The prosecutor also said that Arzberger, who recently performed at the Library of Congress, tested negative for two date-rape drugs.
Arzberger, who is currently out on $100,000 bail, asked Justice Ronald Zweibel to return his passport so he can perform in an upcoming music tour that includes stops in Europe, Asia and South America.
The judge will decide on the issue after a brief hearing Friday.