Twice now, a middle-aged, 5-foot-5 chauffeur named Rene Perez has bravely faced down the prime suspect in the grisly 2004 murder of a Juilliard student.
The first time was last April, when the suspect, Dimitry Sheinman – 17 years younger and 50 pounds heavier – allegedly attacked him during an argument in Inwood Hill Park.
The second time was yesterday, as Perez testified about the incident in Manhattan Criminal Court. As Sheinman, 41, sat at the defense table – insisting he beat Perez only in self-defense – the diminutive Perez, 58, told his story.
“He keep pummeling me,” Perez testified, his voice rising dramatically. “His wife was screaming at him to ‘stop it!’ To ‘stop it!'”
The trial is for a low-level assault charge – a misdemeanor that typically gets a defendant a term of probation, rather than jail.
But it is significant as the only hold the criminal-justice system currently has on Sheinman, who has moved to South Africa and is essentially commuting to his trial.
Alhough he has not been charged, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau called Sheinman “the prime suspect” in the murder of promising theater student Sarah Fox.
Prosecutor David Cooper told jurors during opening statements yesterday that Sheinman began kicking Perez’s dog after it playfully approached Sheinman’s family – then erupted after Perez dared to confront him.
“You murderer!” Perez admits yelling, even as Sheinman allegedly kicked him, put him in a chokehold and punched him.
Sheinman claims he punched Perez after Perez’s dog jumped on Sheinman’s wife, who was eight months pregnant.