Funny kinda ‘love’
She cut beau with sword, but intent debated
It’s a thin line between love and hate — in this case, the width of a samurai sword blade.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed Tuesday that a Queens woman gashed her live-in boyfriend’s arm right to the bone with the traditional Japanese weapon during a bloody June 2016 argument.
But while Assistant District Attorney Mary Kate Quinn told the Supreme Court jury how defendant Karla Barba “intentionally and brutally attacked” her lover with the sword, defense lawyer Stacey Richman countered by describing a quickly escalating quarrel that took a dramatic, gory and accidental turn.
“Love can hurt, but there is love here,” Richman said in her opening argument before a rapt jury.
“You’re going to be like, ‘Oh my God, this is crazy.’ But June 8, 2016, was a normal evening in a home where two people loved each other and had a child together.” Though kept apart by an order of protection, Barba and boyfriend Franklin Larrea, 42, are still in love, “and they want to be together,” claimed Richman. Larrea was in the courthouse but could not sit inside because of the legal order against Barba (photo).
Barba is best known as the victim of a December 2008 slashing by then-City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, but is on the other side of the law in the attack on boyfriend Larrea.
The 39-year-old defendant “raised that sword and brought it down, swinging it,” said prosecutor Quinn. “Slicing though his arm, through layers of skin, through muscle, with enough force to sever arteries.”
The victim’s 12year-old son, Franklin, was an eyewitness and later dialed 911 for his dad, who told the operator: “Please help. I’m dying. Just send an ambulance.”
The couple’s 1year-old son watched the sword-swinging attack as well. Barba faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of first-degree assault.
But defense lawyer Richman told the jury that Barba was unaware just how deadly the weapon was when she grabbed it from the bedroom of the victim’s son.
“Who the hell knew these things were anything other than decorative?” asked Richman.
“She hits him on the head with the sheath, with the jacket on [the sword]. When she hits him, the jacket flies off. She has no clue.”
The next swings with the now-bared blade inflicted the wounds, said Richman.
Larrea fled the apartment, his blood spattering the stairs in the hallway, as Barba locked herself inside — unaware of the extent of the wounds that required surgery.
“She did not have any intention to seriously injure the man she loves and is the father of her child, absolutely not,” argued Richman. “This was no intentional crime.”