Jury Begins Deliberations in Randy Valli Battery Case

Likening her to cop-slapping actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, a Ventura County prosecutor urged jurors Thursday to convict Randy Valli of misdemeanor battery for allegedly smacking a restaurant owner during a dispute over a pricey meal.

“You know what it is, ladies and gentleman, it’s obnoxious celebrities,” Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lonergran said of the wife of ‘60s singer Frankie Valli in his closing argument. “This is the Zsa Zsa Gabor syndrome.”

Valli, 39, has denied slapping the restaurateur. Instead, she testified that the woman overreacted to criticism of the menu prices and tried to shove her out of the door. Valli said she only pushed the woman in self defense.

The polar opposite views of what happened around the dinner table at the Secret Garden restaurant last October now rest in the hands of a jury, which began deliberations Thursday afternoon.

Standing behind restaurant owner Sandra “Alex” Sofsky’s version, Lonergran told the jury that Sofsky has no reason to lie about the slap. He accused the defense of “demonizing” her in court and noted that her story jibes with accounts offered by other employees at the restaurant.

They testified that the Vallis and their dinner companions, singer Frankie Avalon and his wife, Kay, were rude, loud and complaining about the upscale restaurant’s prices and service.

Lonergran argued that the group’s celebrity got to their heads, and Randy Valli slapped Sofsky after the owner confronted the group about their behavior.

“The bottom line is,” he said, “they are not living in the world we live in. You can’t go into a business and be verbally abusive and slap someone.”

Defense attorney Louis “Chuck” Samonsky called that argument false and offensive. “Don’t let the prosecutor get away with this,” he said, specifically referring to the Gabor comparison.

Samonsky told jurors that it was Sofsky--not Valli--who had behaved inappropriately.

He argued that Sofsky was so upset after learning that Avalon had told her business partner and husband, Bob, that the menu prices were too high that she stormed up to the table and started a confrontation.

When Randy Valli scolded her for using profane language, he said, Sofsky grabbed her chair and shook it. He said she came back moments later and grabbed Valli by the shoulders and forcefully swung her out of her chair.

Immediately after the altercation, the couples walked out of the restaurant without paying their bill. Valli testified that she was “shaken” and was hiding behind her husband.

Samonsky urged the panel of six men and six women to look to the testimony of the Vallis and the Avalons, suggesting that Sofsky’s tirade improperly influenced her employees’ testimony.

The lawyer did not dispute that celebrity was at the heart of the trial, which was supposed to last just three days but stretched into two weeks. In fact, he argued that the only reason the case landed in court was because of Frankie Valli’s status as an entertainer.

“I am almost embarrassed to stand here and talk to you so long about it because it’s such a ridiculous case,” Samonsky said at the close of a 1 1/2-hour summation.

A Calabasas resident, Randy Valli faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.