Undying Love
Husband threatens mistress,bailed out by wife
NEW YORK (AP) – Every relationship goes through rough spots,but the saga of Burton and Linda Pugach is no mere “stand by your man” story.
First he got so mad at her in 1959 when she refused to marry him– because he already had a wife –that he hired thugs to throw lye in her eyes.Then,after he got out of prison 14 years later,the blinded woman married him.
Now Pugach,69,is accused of threatening to kill his latest mistress because she ended their five-year affair – and his long-suffering wife has bailed him out of jail.
Pugach told The Associated Press on Friday that making meaningless death threats in a fit of pique is normal behavior in a relationship.
“Haven’t you ever threatened to kill your husband?” he asked.“Did you mean it? Of course not.”
“What did I do?” he demanded angrily.“This has been blown out of proportion like I’ve never seen.”
Pugach told prosecutors that his wife knew about the affair: “She told me,‘If President Clinton can do it,so can you.’”
An angry Linda Pugach,59,refused to discuss her reasons for supporting the philanderer who blinded her.
“Did you call Hillary and ask her how she feels?” she asked,referring to first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.“Why don’t you?”(https://www.daowen.com)
On Wednesday,prosecutors charged Pugach with aggravated harassment and sexual abuse,claiming he threatened to kill his mistress after she ended their five-year affair.He faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.
The case bears chilling similarities to the one that made Pugach infamous.
In the summer of 1959,Linda Riss,then an attractive 23-year-old secretary,spurned Pugach’s proposal after learning he was already married.
“If I can’t have you,no one else will,and when I get finished with you,no one else will want you,” threatened Pugach,an influential personal injury lawyer,according to Riss’ testimony.
In one of New York’s most sensational crimes of passion,he hired three thugs to throw lye in her face.
She lost one eye in the attack and was declared legally blind in the other.
Pugach was found guilty and unsuccessfully appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
After his release from jail in 1974,he appeared on TV news programs to propose to Ms.Riss.That September they were wed.
Twenty-two years later,Pugach again became enraged when his 42-year-old mistress,her name blacked out in court papers,dumped him,prosecutors say.
In one phone call he vowed,“It’s 1959 all over again,” court papers say.He also repeated the threat he made to Riss: “If I can’t have you,no one else can.