Chair Girl — aka Marcella Zoia — may be making her lawyer’s job difficult as she hasn’t really been keeping a low profile.
Zoia recently posted videos to Instagram of her and friends living it up in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
“The first thing I would say is absolutely don’t engage in any activity that draws attention to or that gets you at risk of getting in trouble again,” said prominent criminal lawyer Monte MacGregor, who is not representing the Toronto woman.
A video went viral in February which shows the 19-year-old tossing a chair dozens of stories off the balcony of a Bremner Blvd. high rise next to the Gardiner Expressway.
She’s slated to appear in court on June 14 to face charges of mischief endangering life and other offences. The allegations against her have not been proven in court.
Her lawyer, Gregory Leslie, has said publicly that Zoia was influenced by peer pressure and is now traumatized by the event.
In her latest round of postings –mostly video — Zoia is seen dancing and drinking what appears to be alcohol in Punta Cana.
Leslie in May responded to one of her Instagram posts — showing the woman partying on another occasion — by getting his client to take a drug test which proved she hadn’t consumed any illicit narcotics. Leslie did not respond to the Toronto Sun‘s request for comment on the latest postings.
He said if the Crown attorney was made aware of the postings, and they seem to be getting media attention, “it will be hard for her to present an innocent picture or a picture whereby she’s taking responsibility and addressing the underlying issues that may have led to her choice to commit the (alleged) criminal act.”
Zoia was released on $2,000 bail under conditions that included living with her mother and having no contact with individuals present at the chair-throwing incident.
If convicted, the Crown will likely ask for a “short sharp period of jail,” predicted MacGregor, adding, “if a pre-sentence report is made … the officer in charge will do things like speak to family members and friends to try and get a further understanding of who she is and they’ll also want to know her degree of accountability for the offence.”
