NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - A state appeals court has upheld the conviction of former New York state Senator Hiram Monserrate, a Queens Democrat who was expelled from the Senate after he was found guilty of misdemeanor assault for dragging his girlfriend down the hallway of his apartment building.

In an unsigned ruling, the Appellate Division, Second Department, said that evidence presented by Queens prosecutors about the victim's "weakened state from severe facial injuries" and "the manner in which the injuries to her arm were inflicted" following the 2008 incident was sufficient to support Justice William Erlbaum's guilty verdict.

"The Appellate Division's affirmance of the trial court's verdict and sentence conveys a clear message that domestic violence is a serious crime that can never be condoned," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.

According to evidence presented during Monserrate's bench trial, the senator was caught on video violently dragging his girlfriend and victim, Karla Giraldo, down the stairs and through the lobby of his Jackson Heights apartment on Dec. 19, 2008.

He then drove Giraldo to a hospital more than 14 miles from his apartment--avoiding the hospital a half-mile from his residence, presumably to keep local officials from finding out about the incident--where she received approximately 40 stitches near her left eye, prosecutors said. Monserrate was eventually convicted of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, but acquitted of charges pertaining to allegations that he slashed Giraldo's face.

Monserrate was sentenced to three years of probation, a year of counseling, 250 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

On appeal, Monserrate argued that prosecutors had not established that his girlfriend and victim, Karla Giraldo, suffered "physical injury," a required element of the misdemeanor assault charge. But the appeals court disagreed, saying that Erlbaum had "sufficient basis to infer" that Giraldo suffered "'substantial pain,'" which can be equated with physical injury under New York penal law.

An attorney for Monserrate did not immediately return a request for comment Friday morning.

More than a year after Monserrate was convicted of assault, the New York Senate voted 53-8 to expel him from the legislature, the first time in nearly a century that New York senators ousted one of their own.

In 2010, he was charged in Manhattan federal court with misappropriating $300,000 in discretionary funds while serving as a member of the New York City Council. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case is People v. Monserrate, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division: Second Department, no. 2009-11564.

For the Queens DA: Assistant district attorneys John Castellano and Johnnette Traill.

For Monserrate: Joseph Tacopina and Chad Seigel of the Law Offices of Tacopina Seigel & Turano.

(Reporting by Jessica Dye)

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