By Diane Pineiro-Zucker
A former Greene County assistant public defender who has admitted to violently assaulting a former girlfriend was disbarred Thursday by a state appellate court.
Anthony Michael Pastel pleaded guilty in January to felony assault for “repeatedly punching his then-girlfriend with a closed fist, fracturing her skull and causing a brain bleed and resulting brain damage,” according to the decision handed down by the Attorney Grievance Committee for the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department.
Pastel, of Freehold in Greene County, was initially charged in November 2020 with attempted murder, assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
“The conviction of any attorney of a New York felony results in that attorney’s automatic disbarment,” the decision said. “(For) purposes of this proceeding, respondent’s plea of guilty serves as the functional equivalent of a conviction. … Consequently, the only task before us is the ‘mere formality’ of confirming respondent’s disbarred status.”
As a result of the ruling, Pastel must “desist and refrain from the practice of law in any form in the state of New York, either as principal or as agent, clerk or employee of another,” the decision states.
In November 2020, Pastel was arrested in Freehold, a hamlet in the
town of Greenville, by state police at Catskill. He was released after
posting $25,000 bail. Officials said he was not in custody in Greene
County on Friday.
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