Police Blotter

Murder trial continues

The trial of Rudy Fleming for the Jan. 28, 2005, murder of Nicole duFresne during an armed street robbery on Clinton and Rivington Sts. resumed on Tues. Oct. 10 with prosecution witnesses. No witnesses were scheduled to testify for the defense and summations were expected Wednesday.

DuFresne, 28, had just finished her shift as bartender at the opening of a new venue, Rockwood Music Club, on Allen St. when the incident occurred. Fleming is charged with killing duFresne with a single shot during the stickup. Fleming was not in the courtroom during the trial but was held in a nearby room. He was barred from the courtroom by the judge because he disrupted the chamber during jury selection two weeks ago.

Soho burglary

A woman resident of 462 Broome St. near Greene St. told police that a burglar entered her apartment sometime between 11 a.m. Sat. Sept 23 and 7:30 p.m. the following day and made off with three laptop computers and various pieces of jewelry with a total value of $12,000. There was no sign of forced entry, but the woman said she found the back door open, even though she thought she had locked it before she left on Saturday.

Sought in robberies

A man who walked into a jewelry shop at 42 University Pl. at about 7:25 p.m. Mon. Sept. 25 pulled a knife on two people at the counter, demanded cash and fled, police said. The robber, described as white, 36 to 40 years old, with pronounced buckteeth, gray hair, short to medium stature and medium build, is believed to have held up six other shops in Midtown, the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side between Sept. 8 to Sept. 28, police said.

South Village burglary

A burglar broke into a food shop through the rear door at 185 Varick St. at King St. sometime between 5 p.m. Sun. Sept 24 and 6 a.m. Mon. Sept. 25 and made off with $1,500 that was kept in a locked cabinet, police said. The thief used a key hanging near the cabinet to open it.

Death leap

A California man jumped to his death from his 14th-floor room in the Holiday Inn on Lafayette and Howard Sts. at 2 p.m. Fri. Oct. 6, according to police. William Claudio, 34, of Glendale, Cal., jumped after telling his girlfriend he would if she left the room, according to a New York Post article. His body landed on a third-floor air conditioner.

‘Fire fiend’ parole plea

Paul Braunstein, 42, charged with the Halloween 2005 sexual attack on a Chelsea woman after gaining access to her W. 24 St. apartment dressed as a firefighter, pleaded guilty Fri. Oct. 6 to violating parole on a previous crime while he was a fugitive from the Chelsea case.

Braunstein, a freelance journalist, was on the lam until December after the Halloween event. At the time, he was on three years probation after pleading guilty in September 2005 for having menaced another woman.

He has pleaded not guilty to the Halloween incident and is being held pending trial. His lawyers have indicated that he would make an insanity defense.

Albert Amateau