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On June 30, Miya Ponsetto better known as “Soho Karen” pled not guilty after being hit with hate crime charges, following an incident where she attacked a Black teen who she thought stole her phone at a Manhattan hotel last December.
The video of Ponsetto physically attacking 15-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. at the Arlo Soho Hotel went viral after the altercation happened on December 26, 2020. She was arrested in California early the following month.
New York Post reported, “Ponsetto was indicted by a grand jury on charges of unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, aggravated harassment, and endangering the welfare.” The 22-year-old’s lawyer Paul D’Emilia pled not guilty on her behalf during a virtual arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
While Ponsetto’s case isn’t eligible for bail, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Sarah Marquez requested that the judge keep the young woman on the “highest level of supervised release.” Additionally, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Ward noted that Ponsetto would most likely have to appear in person for her next court date, which is set for October 20.
Ward said during the arraignment, “Although I did not set monetary bail, if you are not in court on dates that I or other judges tell you to be — even though you did not post bail — you would face bail jumping charges.”
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In a statement, D’Emilia spoke out against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance in his client’s defense.
“Instead of helping to foster a civil and enlightened resolution to an unfortunate incident between two young people,” D’Emilia said, “DA Vance chose a craven and opportunistic path in indicting, with felony hate crime charges, Ms. Miya Ponsetto.”
“The charges alleged are a brazen and clear overreach of the intent of the statute. In sum, they are absurd, and a perversion of our legal system,” he went onto say. “As truly violent criminals maraud and run rampant through New York City, this DA exhibits zero interest in law enforcement and prosecution.”
“Instead, he turns his prosecutorial fury on a distraught and panicked young woman stranded without her lifeline, her phone, thousands of miles from home,”
