Judge Acquits Mezzo-Soprano in NY Trader Joe's Case

Judge ShawnDya Simpson dropped
her gavel on the case. (Photo: Steven
Hirsch/New York Post)

"A Manhattan judge yesterday took only 15 minutes to acquit opera singer Marcella Caprario of all charges in a wacky, diva-on-doctor slapdown over a frozen vegan pad-Thai dinner at a crowded Upper West Side Trader Joe's. The verdict, by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge ShawnDya Simpson, means prosecutors failed to prove the mezzo soprano intended to cause injury when she slapped family practitioner and TV talking head Dr. Catherine London in the face during an argument in the frozen-food aisle in January. The frosty fracas -- so New York-kooky that it was covered in both local and national media after The Post broke the story exclusively -- was sparked when the doctor's 13-year-old son got between Caprario's

Mezzo-soprano typecast
(Photo: Steven Hirsch/New York Post)

husband and the store-brand frozen vegan pad-Thai dinners, Caprario's favorite...The freelance opera singer had insisted from the start that the doctor had rushed at her in the frozen-food aisle while making 'animal-like' faces -- and needed slapping. London practices at the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center on the Upper East Side and has appeared as an expert on the Joy Behar show, CNN and Fox television....When she asked politely that Bill stop, the singer called the doctor and both her teen sons 'New York rude,' started cursing up a blue streak and slapped her out of nowhere, the doctor had testified. The single slap caused a medical compendium's worth of injuries, the doctor had announced on the witness stand -- including "ecchymosis" and "petechiae" on her face...Caprario countered that yes, she had cursed at the doctor -- "Get the f--k out of my face" was the wording she recalled -- and she had slapped her, but only after the doctor got nose-to-nose with her. 'After she rushed at me she began making grimaces and moving her head in a strange, animal-like manner,' the singer had testified." [Source]