Lawyer: Maybe Drunk, Sleeping Woman Wanted to Be Set on Fire
A lawyer for Jaime Castano, the New York University student who was arraigned this week for allegedly setting his classmate on fire, told a judge that she didn't think prosecutors would be able to prove that Castano's victim wasn't participating, the New York Daily News reports.
According to the Daily News, Alyssa Gamliel, Castano's attorney, argued that the sleeping 19-year-old woman to whom Castano sang as her mattress burned had been so drunk the night of the incident that she blacked out.
"I do not think she knows what happened or her participation in this," Gamliel told the judge, "nor do I think the People will be able to prove that she was not sort of participating in some of this activity."
NYU said that Castano had been expelled in September after an internal investigation, though Gamliel told the judge at his hearing earlier this week that he left of his own accord.
Castano was released on a $50,000 bond Friday. The case, in which he has not yet been indicted, was adjourned until May. The student who was burned is reportedly studying abroad.
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