The woman who was dubbed as "SoHo Karen appears in court on hate crime charges over alleged phone theft

Possento obviously has a very unstable behavior that leads to have a poor judgement. She's unpredictable when out in a public

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A woman labelled by social media users as “SoHo Karen” has appeared in court on hate crime charges after she wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone.

Miya Ponsetto, of California who appeared to be out of control in the viral video, appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday for a pre-trial hearing in connection with the alleged hate crime against 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr.

She was arraigned in July for attacking the son of jazz player Keyon Harrold, who she wrongly accused of stealing her phone in a Manhattan hotel lobby last December.

The 23-year-old disturbed woman filmed herself accusing the teenager of wrongdoing, in footage that soon went viral and led to her arrest in January.

She discovered shortly after that she had left her phone in an Uber, and pleaded not guilty.

Paul D’Emilia, Ms Ponsetto’s attorney, said after Monday’s hearing that Ms Ponsetto had been “grossly overcharged” and has apologised for her behaviour.

“She was charged with crimes that were greatly enhanced, if I could say that,” Mr D’Emilia told DailyMail.com. “We don’t feel those charges are appropriate, but hopefully there’s something that we can reach that will be satisfactory to everybody.”

He added that she had been seeking therapy at home in California and was waiting for a “possible diagnosis” for “anger management”, according to the New York Post. 

It was  apparent that she had a very unstable behavior  with poor judgement that made her very unpredictable out in the public so the unthinkable took place when she lost her wireless phone and looked at Keyon Harold jr. as an object of her ridiculous displacement.

What made the scenario worst was that there were white people who came before Harold but she assumed that it was him who stole his phone because he was black. Her obscured behavior and paranoia was completely inappropriate and unacceptable.

Ms Ponsetto, who did not speak during the court hearing, added afterwards: “I just wish I had apologised differently, I feel like I made a mistake.”  She is expected to appear again on 10 January.

The California woman could face imprisonment of 10 years if convicted of a hate crime, as well as charges of harassment and of endangering a minor, it has been reported.

She was widely criticised for an interview with CBS News in which she suggested she could not have committed a hate crime and “wasn’t racial profiling whatsoever” because she was Puerto Rican.

“I’m, like, a woman of colour,” Ms Ponsetto said at the time.

On Ponsetto profile in one of her social media accounts, she clearly describes as 'caucasian' but in a worst case scenario, she dropped her card as a person of color.