95-year-old woman murdered her roommate, 89, at Brooklyn nursing home, prosecutors say
A Brooklyn judge Wednesday ordered a 95-year-old woman held without bail on charges that she murdered her nursing home roommate with part of a wheelchair.
Prosecutors said Galina Smirnova
The women were the room’s only occupants and Smirnova was admitted to the facility last Friday, Assistant DA Ari Rottenberg said at her arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court. He said Smirnova has dementia, but Smirnova’s lawyer asked the judge to hold off on ordering her a psychiatric exam to give the defense more time to collect information.
“We need an opportunity to consult, gather medical history and speak to our client further,” attorney Erin Darcy of the nonprofit Legal Aid Society said.
Darcy requested that Smirnova, “given her age,” be held in the city correction department's wing at Bellevue Hospital, but Judge Orville Reynolds said he couldn’t guarantee her placement there. He ordered her held without bail, citing the “nature of the charges and the evidence,” and asked that she receive medical care.
Smirnova, who was also charged with criminal weapons possession in the case, listened quietly to the proceedings through a headset as an interpreter translated for her. She sat in a wheelchair with her left hand cuffed to the armrest.
Darcy declined further comment outside the courtroom. Smirnova is due back in court Friday.
